Factors Affecting Sustained Volunteerism: Case Study of Songkhla Province Red Cross Chapter and Red Cross Subchapters’ Volunteers

Abstract

The research objective was to study factors affecting the sustained volunteerism in a case study of Songkhla Province Red Cross chapter and subchapter. Three variables related to social supports, satisfaction on activities and organization, and specific volunteering roles and identities were examined. The research population was 610 volunteers working for Songkhla Province Red Cross chapter and sub-chapter. Based on Yamane’s table, 242 volunteers were chosen as the sample of the study. The research instrument was a questionnaire with .93, .88 and .95 of their reliabilities of the three variables respectively. The statistics used in analyzing data was the multiple regression analysis.

The research results indicated that most of the participants were female aged between 51 to 60 years, married, and graduated a primary school level. Most of them were merchants and had monthly incomes for over 50,001 baht. They had one to three family members to responsible for and had experiences in being a volunteer for 6 to 10 years. The research hypothesis testing revealed that three factors associated with the sustained volunteerism were social supports, satisfaction on activities and organization, and specific volunteering roles and identities. The most influential factor affecting the sustained volunteerism was specific volunteering roles and identities (Beta=0.711) followed by social supports and satisfaction on activities and organization respectively (Beta=0.237 and 0.152). These results could predicate the degree of volunteering sustainability for 62.9, 61.5 and 45.8 percent. (Adjusted R Square=0.629, 0.615 and 0.458) with statistical difference at .05, respectively.