The three-stage model of volunteers’ duration of service

The main objective of this paper was to describe the latest results of a longitudinal study carried out by our research team with a sample of social work volunteers, whose one-year follow-up has just been completed, allowing us to draw up what we have called the “Threestage model of volunteers’ duration”. Use of this model overcomes some of the apparent contradictions between the different models of volunteerism. For example, for the Functional Model, motivations, and more specifically their satisfaction, would be the best predictors of service duration, however, for the Role Identity Model, what best predicts service duration would be role identity. We assume that in the initial phase of volunteerism, motivations and their satisfaction are more closely related to service duration than role identity. Nevertheless, to predict longer duration of service and greater involvement, the fundamental variable is organizational commitment. Finally, the Role Identity Model is that which best explains sustained volunteerism. Instruments used included the Organizational Commitment Questionnaire (Mowday, Steers, & Porter, 1979) reduced and adapted by Dávila & Chacón, and The Role Identity Scale (Grube & Pilavin, 2000, adapted by Dávila & Chacón, 2004).