Does Cultural Background Affect Volunteering Behavior?

Abstract

The purpose of this qualitative investigation is to help nonprofit organizations which rely heavily on the support of volunteers increase the effectiveness of their marketing by accounting for differences in cultural background among community members. It was conducted in the multi‐cultural Australian context and included 79 participants from different cultural backgrounds. Findings indicate that as a whole, cultural groups differ significantly with respect to their attitudes, social norm and perceived behavioral control over volunteering. Nonprofit organizations are unlikely to be successful in attracting volunteers from a range of different cultural backgrounds unless they account for heterogeneity among volunteers and customize marketing messages. To the authors' knowledge this is the first study that investigates differences in attitude, social norm and perceived behavioral control regarding an important social marketing issue: changing the volunteering behavior of individuals in a multi‐cultural society.

Keywords:

• segmentation
• ethnic identification
• volunteering
• nonprofit marketing

Notes

This research was funded by the Australian Research Council through the Linkage Grant Scheme (LP0453682) and our industry partner, Bushcare Wollongong, a division of Wollongong City Council. We would particularly like to thank Paul Formosa, Natural Areas Coordinator for Wollongong City Council, for his support and assistance with this project.