More evidence on the latent benefits of work: bolstered by volunteering while threatened by job insecurity

ABSTRACT

This research examined whether volunteering would grant an alternative route to meaning at work (in the form of the latent benefits of work), even when people are deprived of meaning in times of job insecurity. Two longitudinal studies conducted in Germany (2 waves; n = 110) and the United Kingdom (3 waves; n = 377) showed that volunteering was related to more latent benefits in general, although the specific relationships differed between the countries: In the German sample, volunteering led to more collective purpose and social contacts over time, in the UK sample, it increased time structure and activity. Cross-lagged path analyses further showed that the relationship between volunteering and the latent benefits was reciprocal in both countries: volunteering increased the latent benefits and vice versa. There was limited evidence for the depriving effect of job insecurity, which was found only cross-sectionally. In sum, the results confirm that volunteering can enhance the benefits of work in times of job insecurity and that the effect is reciprocal.

KEYWORDS:

• Volunteering
• latent benefits of work
• Jahoda
• job insecurity
• longitudinal

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. Note that voracity is different from fluid compensation. Voracity proposes that once people experience meaning they would search for other activities that provide the same meaningfulness experience. Fluid compensation suggests that if the experience of meaning is threatened in one area, people will seek out meaning in other areas that are still intact.

2. In an explorative additional analysis (not reported here) we also tested whether there would be evidence for a “fluid compensation effect” of volunteering in times of job insecurity. We tested whether volunteering would moderate the negative relationship between job insecurity and the latent benefits within time, in both studies. Results showed that there was no evidence for this moderation effect, at neither of the studies and none of the time-points. For more details on these analyses please contact the first author.

Additional information

Funding

This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.