Descriptive Statistics
The demographic information presented in the descriptive statistics was collected from 432 volunteers, while some of the demographic variables (i.e. work status, education level) have missing values. The descriptive statistics include the sample characteristics of gender, marital status, age, country of residence, work status, education level, family socioeconomic status, years of voluntary work, certified volunteer, and supervisory role. The frequency and percentage of these characteristics were presented in Table 4.1.
Gender
Among the 432 participants, 144 participants are male (33.3%) and 288 are female participants (66.7%). Thus, the majority of gender analyzed in the study are females.
Marital Status
A total of 64 participants are single (14.8%), while 368 participants are married (85.2%).
Age
A total of 28 participants are between 20 to 30 years old (6.5%), 25 between 31 to 40 years old (5.8%), 71 between 41 to 50 years old (16.4%), 152 between 51 to 60 years old (35.2%), and 156 participants are above 60 years old (36.1%).
Country of Residence
A total of 386 participants reside in Taiwan (89.4%), 19 in Australia (4.4%), 9 in
Canada (2%), and 18 in other counties such as China, Vietnam, Myanmar, Thailand, Japan, and Malaysia (4.2%).
Work Status
In the data, 42 participants are unemployed and most female participants reported themselves as housewives (9.7%), 20 participants are in school, (4.6%), 211 participants are working (48.8%), and 144 participants are retired workers (33.3%).
The demographic information for work status has 15 missing values in the dataset (3.5%).
Education Level
A total of 174 participants earned high school, junior high, and elementary degree (40.3%), 92 earned a technical or vocational school degree (21.3%), 119 earned a bachelor degree (27.5%), 36 earned master degree (8.3%), and 6 earned a doctoral degree (1.4%). The demographic information for education level has 5 missing values in the dataset (1.2%).
Family Socioeconomic Status
A total of 121 participants reported with a lower income status (28%), 299 reported as middle class (69.2%), while 8 reported as wealthy (1.9%). The demographic information for education level has 4 missing values in the dataset (0.9%).
Years of Being a Volunteer
In the data, 65 participants have 1-5 years of experience doing voluntary work (15%), 176 have 6-10 years (40.7%), 139 have 11-20 years (32.2%), while 32
participants reported they have 21 years and above experience in the voluntary service (7.4%). The demographic information for education level has 20 missing values in the dataset (4.7%).
Certification
A total of 357 participants were officially certified volunteers in the organization (82.6%), and 75 participants were none certified (17.4%).
Supervisory Role
A total of 171 participants have supervisory role as team leaders in the organization (39.6%), while 261 participants does not (60.4%).
Discussions
The demographic characteristics in the descriptive statistics described show that most respondents analyzed in this study are female, married, age above 50 years old and are retired from work. Almost 90% of the volunteers reside in Taiwan. The majority participants have a high school degree or below. Most volunteers reported that they have 6 to 20 years of experience in the voluntary organization, while more than 80% of them are certified volunteers in the organization; thus, have a profound knowledge about the organization and were eligible to evaluate their voluntary organization.
Table 4.1.
Table 4.1. (continued) 6. Education Level
High School degree or below 174 40.3
Technical/Vocational School degree 92 21.3
Bachelor degree 119 27.5
Pearson Correlation Analysis
The correlation analysis was conducted to examine the relationship between variables. Table 4.2 presents the mean, standard deviations, reliabilities, and correlations among the demographic variables of work status, certified volunteers, and supervisory role, the independent variables of intrinsic, career development, social interaction, reactivity, self-esteem, social, values, understanding, and protective motivation, the dependent variable of affective commitment, and the moderating variable of percieved distributive justice, perceived procedural justice, and perceived interactional justice.
Demographic variables were examined to study the characteristics of samples. In Table 4.2, the table only shows the demographic variables that have a significant relationship with the dependent variable. Country of Residence is negatively correlated with affective commitment, r = -.12, p < .05, which Taiwan was coded as 1 and Other countries was coded as 0. Work Status is positively correlated with affective commitment, r = .13, p < .01, and unemployed and retired samples were coded as 1 and for samples at school and working were coded as 0. Years of volunteering has a positive and significant correlation with affective commitment, r
=.13, p < .05. Certified volunteers is positively correlated with affective commitment, r = .33, p < .05, which certified volunteers were coded as 1 and the non-certified as 0. Supervisory role is positively correlated with affective commitment, r = .17, p
< .05, which volunteers with supervisory roles were coded as 1 and non-supervisory roles were coded as 0.
As for the independent variables, intrinsic (r = .56, p < .05), social interaction (r = .13, p < .05), reactivity (r = .36, p < .05), self-esteem (r = .35, p < .05), values (r = .46, p < .05), understanding (r = .46, p < .05), and protective (r = .17, p < .05) motivations have significant and positive relationship with affective commitment. For the moderating variables, perceived distributive justice (r = .34, p
< .05), perceived procedural justice (r = .31, p < .05), and perceived interactional justice (r = .33, p < .05) also have significant and positive relationship with the dependent variable.
Discussions
From the correlation analysis, the overseas Taiwanese volunteers may perceive to have higher commitment level as compared to the volunteers in Taiwan. The overseas volunteer tend to have more faith and commitment in promoting a voluntary organization from their hometown, Taiwan. The unemployed and retired volunteers are positively related to affective commitment. Most umemployed participants are housewives, while the retired volunteers are 50 years old and above. Due to their flexible time schedule, these two groups can spend more time in voluntary service and have higher attachment to the voluntary organization than those who still possess work priorities at work or school.
According to the statistical result on certified volunteers, the certified volunteers may perceive to have higher commitment level than the non-certified volunteers. In order to be certified as the “official volunteer” in the organization, the individual needs to pass training courses, obtains two recommendations from the senior
volunteers, and shows an ability to maintain at least 30 members of donators per month. Uniforms are provided for the volunteers who are certified as the official volunteers in the organization, while more duties and important job roles are delegated to them. As for the supervisory role, the positive correlation indicates most supervisors have more affective commiment with the organization, probably because they are delagated with more obligations in managing and retaining team members, handling administrative work, and coordinating programs for the organization, thus having a higher sense of ownship of the voluntary work.
Most volunteers report to have intrinisic motivation that impacts their feeling of commitment or have the sense of belongingness to the voluntary organization. People with intrinsic motivations perform an activity through one’s inherent interest and enjoyment (Ryan and Deci, 2000). With that said, volunteers who are intrinisically motivated usually means that they are self-driven without the impact of any external factors, such as participating the volunteer work for a friend, family, or colleague.
Values, understanding, and reactivity are the stronger types of motivations, which in theory, are classified as the internally controlled type of extrinsic motivations. Meyer and Herscovitch (2001) have found affective commitment to have stronger links to the internal types of extrinsic motivations (i.e. reactivity, values, and understanding) more than external extrinsic motivation (i.e. career development, social interaction, self-esteem, and protective).
For the perceived organizational justice, all three dimensions of perceived justice are found to have positive correlation with affective commitment. When volunteers
perceive fair distribution of resources in the organization, positive impact on the procedures and received respect and dignity in the organization, volunteers have more intentions to make contribution for the organization and thus feeling themselves as
“part of the family” when being recognized and supported by the organization.
Table 4.2.
Mean, Standard Deviations, Correlations, and Reliability (n=432)
Note. Numbers in parentheses represent Cronbach’s alpha value. ***p<.001 **p < .01 *p < .05
Variable 1, 2, 4, and 5 are coded: Taiwan was coded as 1 and other countries was coded as 0; unemployed and retired were coded as 1 and at school and working were coded as 0;
certified volunteers were coded as 1 and non-certified as 0; supervisory roles were coded as 1 and non-supervisory roles were coded as 0.
Mean S.D. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
1. Country of Residence .87 .33
2. Work Status .45 .50 .06
3. Years of Volunteering 11.80 6.54 -.14** .13**
4. Certified Volunteers .82 .39 -.09 .24** .41**
5. Supervisory Role .40 .49 -.25** .26** .17** .35**
6. Affective Commitment 6.30 .77 -.12* .13** .11* .33** .17** (.91) 7. Intrinsic 4.33 .53 -.09 .07 .00 .06 .04 .56** (.80) 8. Career Development 2.61 .97 .09 -.08 -.13* -.28** -.16** .02 .03 (.85) 9. Social Interaction 3.25 .87 .04 -.07 -.13* -.17** -.05 .13** .10* .63** (.86) 10. Reactivity 4.05 .68 -.05 .04 -.11* .03 .04 .36** .35** .15** .22** (.76) 11. Self-Esteem 3.91 .75 .04 .01 -.06 -.01 .00 .35** .32** .26** .34** .34** (.84) 12. Social 3.07 .99 .05 -.07 -.09 -.16** -.05 .02 .03 .44** .40** .09 .34** (.90) 13. Values 4.32 .56 -.07 .11* -.07 .10* .10* .46** .46** .03 .18** .44** .49** .12* (.85) 14. Understanding 4.36 .55 -.02 .07 -.02 .11* .10* .46** .42** .08 .20* .41** .41** .15** .60** (.86) 15. Protective 3.37 .88 .17** .08 -.01 -.06 -.03 .17** .14** .38** .42** .30** .39** .37** .26** .35** (.83) 16. Distributive Justice 4.03 .85 .04 .04 .03 .10* .11* .34** .27** .08 .11* .22** .19** .09 .23** .31** .18** (.86) 17. Procedural Justice 3.72 .72 -.12* -.12* .00 -.01 .12* .31** .29** .04 .14* .15** .17** .20** .20** .21** .14** .45** (.82) 18. Interactional Justice 4.13 .78 -.11* -.11* -.10 -.07 .01 .33** .36** .05 .12* .20** .19** .15** .17** .15** .10* .35** .64** (.91)
Table 4.2.
Mean, Standard Deviations, Correlations, and Reliability (n=432)
Hierarchical Regression Analysis
The Pearson Correlation analysis was used to confirm the direct association between variables. The hierarchical regression analysis was conducted to provide a further analysis of the casual relationship between motivations and affective commitment. Hypothesis 1 predicted that all types of motivation have a positive relationship with affective commitment, while Hypotheses 2 predicted that perceived organizational justices moderate the relationship between types of motivation and affective commitment. Table 4.3 shows the result of Hierarchical Regression Analysis on the moderating effects.
Three steps were conducted in hierarchical regression analysis. Before calculating the interaction terms, motivations and perceived organizational justice were all mean-centered by subtracting the mean from the original scores in order to prevent the multicollinearity problem. In the first step, control variables such as country of residence, work status, certified volunteer and supervisory role were entered in the analysis. In the second step, independent variables of motivations, including intrinsic, career development, social interaction, reactivity, self-esteem, social, values, understanding, and protective, and the moderating variables of perceived organizational justices including distributive justice, procedural justice, and interactional justice were added. Finally, the interaction terms were entered in the third step.
Hypothesis 1 predicted that all types of motivation have a significant and positive relationship with affective commitment; however, as shown in Table 4.3, the result in model 2 shows intrinsic motivation (ß = .31, p <.001) has a strong and positive impact on affective commitment. The types of extrinsic motivation, which are self-esteem (ß =.11, p <.05) and understanding (ß =.12, p <.01) shows a slightly weaker but positive impact on affective commitment, thus only hypothesis 1a is fully supported; hypothesis 1b is only partially supported. Hypothesis 1 is partially supported.
Hypothesis 2 predicted that perceived organizational justices moderate the relationship between types of motivation and affective commitment. Perceived distributive justice was
found to negatively moderates the relationship between intrinsic motivation and affective commitment (ß = -.09, p <.05). Perceived distributive justice was also found to moderate the relationship between understanding and affective commitment (ß =.13, p <.05). Thus, hypothesis 2a is partially supported since perceived distributive justice would only moderate two types of relationship. Hypothesis 2 is also partially supported.
Perceived procedural justice moderates the relationship between self-esteem and affective commitment (ß =.13, p < .05). Thus, hypothesis 2b is also partially supported because perceived procedural justice only moderate one type of relationship. Perceived interactional justice moderates the relationship between self-esteem and affective commitment (ß= -.12, p < .05). Perceived interactional justice moderates the relationship between understanding and affective commitment (ß= -.19, p < .01). Hypothesis 2c is also partially supported because perceived interactional justice only moderate two relationships.
With that all said, hypothesis 2 could be inferred to be partially supported because the perceived organizational justices only moderate certain types of relationships.
Table 4.3.
Result of Hierarchical Regression Analysis on the Moderating Effects (n=432)
Variables
Model 1 Model 2 Model 3
ß ß ß
Demographic controls
Country of Residence -.09 -.04 -.06
Work Status .06 .04 .02
Certification .30*** .28*** .28***
Supervisory Role .03 .01 .02
Years of Volunteering .04 .09 .08
(continued)
Table 4.3. (continued) Independent Variable
Intrinsic .31*** .31***
Career Development .05 .05
Social Interaction .05 .05
Reactivity .06 .07
Self-Esteem .10* .11*
Social -.07 -.06
Values .08 .09
Understanding .14** .12*
Protective -.02 -.02
Moderators
Perceived Distributive Justice .06 .06
Perceived Procedural Justice .05 .01
Perceived Interactional Justice .13** .16**
Interaction
PDJ x Intrinsic -.09*
PDJ x Career Development .03
PDJ x Social Interaction -.07
PDJ x Reactivity .01
PDJ x Self-Esteem -.02
PDJ x Social .06
PDJ x Values -.07
PDJ x Understanding .13*
PDJ x Protective -.04
(continued)
Table 4.3. (continued)
PPJ x Intrinsic .02
PPJ x Career Development .06
PPJ x Social Interaction -.11
PPJ x Reactivity -.05
PIJ x Career Development -.11
PIJ x Social Interaction .10
PIJ x Reactivity .08
To better explain the moderating effect, the significant interaction terms were plotted.
The samples were divided into three groups—low, moderate, and high in the interaction plot for all moderating effect on types of motivations and affective commitment. The low group was those who scored lower in the moderator variable as determined by the mean of the moderator variable minus one standard deviation. The high group was determined by the mean of the moderator variable plus one standard deviation. The moderate group was
determined by the samples that score in between the low and high group.
The result shows a negative beta coefficient from the interaction of perceived distributive justice and intrinsic motivation when predicting affective commitment (ß= -.09, p
< .05). As shown in figure 4.1, when perceived distributive justice (PDJ) is high, the influence of intrinsic motivation to affective commitment is weakened when compared to groups who perceived at a moderate and low level of PDJ. Distributive justice is conceptually defined as “the perceived fairness of amounts of compensation employees received” (Folger
& Konovsky, 1989, p.115). When resources are fairly distributed, volunteers do not perceive
“resources” as a reward that will reflect their contribution or involvement with the organization since “volunteers choose to volunteer to act in recognition of a need, with an attitude of social responsibility and going beyond one’s basic obligation” (Ellis & Noyes, 1990, p.4). In the voluntary organization, volunteers only perceive themselves as a bridge of allocating the resource from one side to another. Thus, fair resource allocation is not a factor that has a strong impact on their commitments.
Figure 4.1. Interaction plot for the moderating effect of perceived distributive justice on intrinsic motivation and affective commitment.
A positive beta coefficient is indicated for the interaction term between perceived distributive justice and understanding when influencing affective commitment (ß =.13, p
< .05). However, as shown in figure 4.2, when perceived distributive justice (PDJ) is high, the influence of the understanding motivation to affective commitment is weakened. Those who volunteer for understanding motivations are looking for opportunities to learn about the cause and to practice their skills; both require more involvement in projects and more resources.
Therefore, one possible reason for the unexpected result is that when volunteers with the instrumental understanding motivation realize they cannot get more resources from the organization, their commitment is reduced. In other words, when individuals are motivated
under the “understanding” dimension of extrinsic motivation, they volunteer for instrumental purposes, that is, to make good use of resources provided by the organization to help their process of gaining practical experience and satisfy own needs. They may move to another organization and look for opportunities that will help enhance their abilities.
Figure 4.2. Interaction plot for the moderating effect of perceived distributive justice on understanding and affective commitment.
A positive beta coefficient is shown for the interaction of perceived procedural justice and self-esteem when predicting affective commitment (ß =.13, p < .05). As shown in figure 4.3, the moderate group indicates the strongest slope in the interaction plot. Volunteers who perceive moderate fairness in procedures have stronger influence on the relationship between self-esteem and affective commitment. In psychology, self-esteem is described as “a person’s
overall sense of own self-worth, personal value and beliefs” (Hewitt, 2009, p.218). A person who volunteers for self-esteem motivation looks to increase his or her own feelings of self-worth and self-esteem. When procedural justice is moderate, those with low self-esteem motivation have the lowest commitment, and vice versa. Volunteers with high self-esteem motivation may feel that an organization with moderate procedural justice provides more opportunities for them to prove their own worth and value.
Figure 4.3. Interaction plot for the moderating effect of perceived procedural justice on self-esteem and affective commitment.
In addition, the negative beta coefficient is also shown in the interaction between perceived interactional justice and self-esteem when predicting affective commitment (ß = -.12, p < .05). As shown in figure 4.4, when perceived interactional justice (PIJ) is high, the influence of the self-esteem motivation to affective commitment is weakened when compared to groups who perceived at a moderate and low level of PIJ. PIJ weakens the relationship
between self-esteem and affective commitment (ß= -.12, p < .05). When interpersonal treatments are perceived to be fair, volunteers with high self-esteem or perceived to have higher self-importance over others, would decrease their intention to commit in the organization when they think that others are not treating them as special persons who think they should be treated with privileges.
Figure 4.4. Interaction plot for the moderating effect of perceived interactional justice on self-esteem and affective commitment
A negative beta coefficient for the interaction term of perceived interactional justice and understanding (ß = -.19, p < .01) is indicated when predicting affective commitment. As shown in figure 4.5, when perceived interactional justice (PIJ) is high, the influence of the
understanding motivation to affective commitment is weakened. As indicated in the interaction plot, the slope or level of commitment for the high group of volunteers is weakened when compared to the low and moderate group. In the extrinsic motivation of understanding, the volunteers may emphasize more importance on their individual growth, but when they perceive higher interactional justice in the organization, the influence of individual growth becomes less important on their commitment.
Figure 4.5. Interaction plot for the moderating effect of perceived interactional justice on understanding and affective commitment.
Hypotheses Testing
Table 4.4.
Hypotheses Testing Results Summary
Hypotheses Result
H1 Motivations have a significant and positive impact on affective commitment.
Partially Supported H1a The intrinsic motivation has a significant and positive
impact on affective commitment.
Supported H1b The extrinsic motivations (career development, social
interaction, reactivity, self-esteem, social, values, understanding, and protective) have a significant and positive impact on affective commitment.
Partially Supported
H2 Perceived organizational justice among volunteers will strengthen the relationship between types of motivations and affective commitment.
Partially Supported
H2a Perceived distributive justice among volunteers will strengthen the relationship between types of motivation and affective commitment.
Partially Supported
H2b Perceived procedural justice among volunteers will strengthen the relationship between types of motivation and affective commitment.
Partially Supported
H2c Perceived interactional justice among volunteers will strengthen the relationship between types of motivation and affective commitment.
Partially Supported