Consumer transformation through volunteer service experiences

Abstract

A growing number of consumers are seeking to make a difference through experiences involving interaction and collaboration with organizations that offer charitable service opportunities. These experiences are noteworthy in not only their catalyzing influence on the organization and the beneficiary customer, but also the personal transformation in the volunteer. The authors introduce a phenomenon called transformative charity experiences (TCEs), a triadic framework highlighting an avenue of personal consumer well-being through the transformative effect of service interactions with key stakeholders. Building upon conceptual models proposed in Transformative Services Research and insights from their own embedded charity experiences, the authors introduce how service co-creation from three entities (charity, volunteer, and community) can lead to a transformative effect for the volunteer. An exploratory field study in an international setting provides insights into how the proposed framework accounts for TCEs. Implications and future directions for charitable services research are presented.

Keywords:

• transformative services research
• charities
• co-creation
• value creation
• volunteer

Acknowledgement

We would like to thank the students and the community who participated in this project for their involvement, generosity, and openness to the research process, as well as Ron Hill for his thoughts and insights during the revision stages. We dedicate this paper to the honor and memory of Garrett Coble, may he rest in peace.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.