Motivation For The Social Projects Volunteering As A Personal Development Factor

Abstract

The article considers motivation from a historical perspective that allows observing the main trends of the phenomenon development, particularly in volunteering. Volunteering is a special system of labor relations, which is based on certain mechanisms of motivation for activity. The analysis of the main motives for volunteering used in Russian practice is presented as follows: compensatory (overcoming the feeling of loneliness), personal growth (pursuit of self-actualization), idealistic (the need to change the situation in society, to be socially active and useful), extension of social and domestic competencies (knowledge and skills) and social contacts. An attempt was made to analyze the main works of foreign researchers to study the motivation of volunteers such as: altruism; the need for affiliation; corporatism; development of social skills; religious beliefs; focus on enhancing the prestige and status of a charitable organization; the formation of a humane, value-based and tolerant attitude towards the members of society; focus on the process of socialization and professional development of the volunteer personality. The conducted research allowed to make the conclusions about the ambiguity and multivariance of the motivation for such activities, specifically among the social projects volunteers; about the need for a purposeful study of motives and the alignment of motivation with personal values and value-based orientations of volunteers, which will allow in the future to effectively perform volunteer activities as long as possible and serve as a personal development factor of the volunteer movement participants.

Keywords: Activity, motive, motivation, personal development, social projects, volunteering

Introduction

Involvement of young people in volunteering activities is one of the priorities of youth policy and, undoubtedly, an important factor in the civil society development. According to the Federal State Statistics Service, the average number of volunteers who took part in the activities of socially-oriented non-profit organizations in 2019 amounted to more than 4 million people.

The total number of citizens involved in volunteering in 2019 from centers (municipalities, associations) that support the volunteering activity in Russian non-profit organizations, state and municipal institutions and educational organizations amounted to about 7.5 million people.

Volunteering is enshrined in following documents and legislative acts: the Universal Declaration on Volunteering; the Constitution of the Russian Federation; the acts of the Russian Federation: «On volunteering», «On state support for youth and children's public associations» and «On charitable activities and volunteering»; the Federal Act N 15-FZ of February 5, 2018 «On amendments to certain legislative acts of the Russian Federation on volunteering» (Kuklina, 2020; The Federal Act of the Russian Federation N 15-FZ of February 5, 2018).

The Federal Act «On Volunteering» considers volunteering as a set of social relations appearing as an individual voluntarily performs activities in favour of a recipient of volunteer assistance at off-work and non-study time (The Government Executive Order of the Russian Federation N 2950-r of December 27, 2018).

The term «volunteer» is considered a subject who voluntarily takes on any work, any responsibilities, voluntarily takes part in any business. Several authors draw attention to the unpaid nature of the volunteer activities. Volunteerism can be regarded as a disinterested activity «in favour of someone else», as concerns about other people without remuneration and material reward.

Foreign researcher Smith (1981) defines a volunteer as a person who voluntarily participates in any activity that does not provide for material reward. In public and state organizations, it is a person who works without labour remuneration.

American psychologists such as Clary et al. (1992) note that volunteering is an unpaid, conscious voluntary activity in favour of others. Anyone who works consciously and disinterestedly can be called a volunteer.

Problem Statement

The intensive development of volunteering is accompanied by the emergence of several problems that both organizers and volunteer movement participants face. Nowadays, there is no clear understanding of the nature of motivation for participation in volunteer activities aimed at solving a significant socio-cultural problem in society. Moreover, there is no sufficient theoretically substantiated and empirically confirmed model of the interaction of the value-motivational structures of a person with their unique life experience and the most acceptable types of volunteering activity for them.

Research Questions

In connection with the abovementioned, a number of research questions arise regarding the motivation and activities of volunteers in social projects. At the same time, motivation can be considered as a possible personal development factor.

Purpose of the Study

The aim of this research is to consider historical aspects of motivation development, including volunteer activities motivation in the implementation of social projects as an opportunity of personal development.

Research Methods

The analysis of domestic and foreign scientific literature on the problem of motivation and integration of available scientific information.

Findings

In this article, the motivation of volunteer activities in the implementation of social projects is viewed in the historical aspect. This allows tracing the development trend of the phenomenon, to analyze changes in approaches and concepts of researchers. In general, this will provide an opportunity to identify the most significant ways and mechanisms of creating motivation for volunteering, which can be considered as a possible factor of personal development.

A significant contribution to the study of motivation was made by domestic scientists deeply involved in this problem: Leontyev (2012) developed an activity approach, including the activity of motivation; Ilyin (2016) singled out the stages of the motive formation; Rubinstein (2016) considered consciousness (including motivation) and activity as a whole.

In foreign psychology, the motivation was considered within the following renowned areas: psychoanalysis (Freud, 2019; Jung, 2016), behaviorism (Watson, 1980), humanistic psychology (Maslow, 2019). Nevertheless, the existing variety of approaches to the concept of «motivation» allows most authors to note that motivation is a combination of psychological factors that determine the behavior and activities of people. This, in turn, can be considered a kind of personal development factor.

When studying motivation (Bozhovich, 2001; Maslow, 2019), viewing it as a complex system with peculiar hierarchical structures proves to be more effective. In this case, the structure can be viewed as a relatively stable elements unity, their interconnection and the integrity of the object as an invariant of the system.

Motivation is a complex process of determining a person's behavior and way of thinking under the influence of internal (personal) and external factors. The concept of motivation includes two aspects: objective and subjective. The objective aspect characterizes the influence of the environment (the outside world) on a person. The subjective aspect is associated with the peculiarities of the perception of the person himself and the ways of responding to the world.

The structure of the motivational sphere can be represented as an education developing in the process of life. When we consider the structure as a sphere of human needs, Maslow's (2019) hierarchy of needs is of great interest. The latter highlights, on the one hand, the social and interactive dependence of a person more clearly, and on the other hand, its cognitive nature associated with self-actualization. This may serve as a basis for the consideration of the motivation activities of volunteers as a possible factor of personal development.

Among the many behavioral motives, we can single out four basic ones: the need for success, the need for domination, the need for independence and the need for belongingness (affiliation) (Gurova & Gurova, 2017).

The sphere of personality motivation structured by Maslow (2019) is presented in the form of two layers: the upper one forms psychological phenomena, fully controlled by the consciousness; the bottom layer forms inclinations, mood, affects, desires, and the like.

These needs were presented in a broad context by Argyle (2003), who included the following motivations (needs) in the general structure:

1) non-social needs, which can be caused by social interaction (biological needs);

2) the need for dependence (help, protection acceptance, etc.), for being lead by someone else (especially by the people who have certain authority and/ or power);

3) the need for belongingness (affiliation), for being a rightful member of the company of other people, the need for a kind response, acceptance by the group, peers;

4) the need for domination, for being accepted by others as a leader of a group who is allowed to have longer speeches as well as to make decisions;

5) the sexual need - physical intimacy, friendly and intimate social interaction of a representative of one sex with an attractive representative of the other;

6) the need for aggression, for inflicting either verbal or physical harm;

7) the need for self-esteem and self-identification, for accepting oneself as a significant person.

There are two layers in the sphere of personality motivation structured by Maslow (2019): the upper one forms psychological phenomena, fully controlled by the consciousness; the bottom layer forms inclinations, mood, affects, desires, and the like.

Maslow (2019) organized individual motives into entire groups, which are structured in the hierarchy of values depending on what role in personality development they perform. There are five main groups of needs singled out by him:

• the needs of physiological nature (nutrition, hydration, oxygen);
• the need for security (both physical and psychological);
• the need for affection, love and belongingness to the group;
• the need for self-respect;
• the need for self-actualization.

Thus, the basic human need, according to Maslow (2019), is the desire for self-improvement and self-expression. In the concerned hierarchy of values certain motives (self-actualization, self-esteem, affiliation, the need for affection) can be seen as a factor of personal development of some kind.

In his research, Druzhinin (2017) distinguishes two types of motives: actual motives - the real ones are those responsible for causing the behavior and activity, and the potential motives – are those that have developed in a person, but do not appear in the activities because the person is currently not being involved in them.

According to the research of Leontyev (2012), the motive is viewed as a factor for the construction of activity, therefore it is important whether a motive performs the stimulation function or the function of meaning making.

There are two stages in realization of the stimulating or incentive function:

a) the potential aspiration of a person, an existing selective tendency as a specific psychological vector of physiological activity;

b) the fulfillment of the victorious potential aspiration, which then manifests itself in some kind of activity.

In the studies of Leontyev (2012), the meaning-making function of the motive is the key one, which in our opinion, can act as a possible factor of personal development.

According to Bozhovich (2001), the system of motives is differentiated into external, related to the entire context of the individual social life, and internal, associated with a certain activity, which, from our point of view, can also manifest itself in volunteer activities.

On this basis, Orlov (1984) defines the motivational syndrome of need, allowing differentiating the notions of motive and need and, thus, interpreting human behavior in terms of motives as well as deeper incentives (affections, needs, etc.).

According to the dynamic approach, the motives are changing, and fundamental, basic needs remain unchanged. There is a hierarchical relation between each motive. Some of them are primary, leading; the others are subordinate, or secondary. Such hierarchical system differs one individual from another, thus defining him or her as a person.

Due to the relevance of volunteering in scientific literature, there are studies directly devoted to the study of the motivation of this phenomenon (Kulagina, 2016; Lebedeva, 2016; Melnichuk, 2018; Zanyuk, 2017).

The first attempt to create a model of volunteer motivation was presented by Smith (1981).

He suggested understanding the motivation as a combination of two factors. In his work, the difference between altruistic (non-material benefits, such as well-being, helping others) and selfish (for instance, material incentives) motives is emphasized. The researcher presented the theoretical classification of volunteer motives. The novelty of this research lies in the identification of the selfish component of volunteering.

Clary et al. (1992) developed a theory that explained different types of motives. According to the scientists, there is variety of reasons for people to participate in volunteering, so that people meet different individual needs through volunteering.

After the analysis of practical activities of volunteers, the scientists presented six main motives:

1) relevance (the importance of helping others);

2) information (taking part in activities that provide a person for new knowledge);

3) career (the possibility of employment or career growth);

4) socialization (obtaining certain communication skills, especially with people of high social status);

5) respect (earning authority);

6) protection (getting positive emotions and healthy mindset).

Further on, the search for friendly relationships was suggested by Okun and Schultz (2003) as a motive that had not been described earlier. This motive reflects the desire of volunteers to make new friends.

The research results made it possible to classify the motives of volunteer activity, while different types of motives prevail for each volunteer. Moreover, the results allowed making a conclusion that each of the volunteers can have several primary motives for activity.

According to Allison et al. (2002), there are three more types of motives to be considered: religious motives, motives of pleasure (joy), and motives of cooperation with like-minded people (teambuilding). Acknowledging the fact that religious motives can be included into value motivation, the authors consider them as separate beings, due to their frequent determination by affiliation with a particular religion or religious community.

Bussell and Forbes (2002) offers a similar typology of motives. Among the motives for volunteering, they distinguish altruism, affiliation needs, skill development, prestige orientation, religious beliefs, benefits for charitable organizations, benefits for family and society, corporatism, and process orientation. The balance of past experience and future expectations serves as a basis for the decision to participate in volunteering activities. This balance is provided by four aspects:

1) potential return to volunteering;

2) the extent to which people around them appreciate the activity;

3) opportunities for volunteering;

4) clarity of the results of participation in volunteer activities.

Previously, it was impossible for the scientists to build universal theories because of each person having individual arrangement of the motivation system. However, the necessity to understand the complexity of the motivation phenomenon and the inappropriateness of a single approach to its assessment should be noted. Starting with the works of Clary et al. (1992), multidimensional models of volunteer motivation started spreading.

Nowadays, the approach of greatest significance to understanding the reasons for volunteering is the functional theory of motivation.

The functional model can be considered a practical method of attracting potential volunteers. Researchers all over the world use this theory because it has a strong empirical support. Having resources necessary for practice, the functional theory may serve as a method of determining factors that influence the motivation of volunteers.

The following provisions serve as a basis for the above mentioned model: taking part in volunteering, people pursue personal goals of importance; reasons guiding people tend to differ significantly, meaning that volunteers engaged in the same work tasks may have different reasons for being engaged in them; there are several motives in any task that meet the needs of different individuals; the environment should provide the right balance of needs and opportunities to that leads to volunteer satisfaction; the satisfaction of volunteer motives define their success (Stegniy & Nikonov, 2018). Moreover, an individual may develop as a person in the process of volunteering, for instance, one may expand personal social circle, satisfy their interests and serve as a self-reflection in the course of a lifetime, which can be considered a possible factor of personal development (Arsenyeva, 2016; Sukharkova, 2017; Shinyayeva, 2017).

Currently, in Russian science and practice, as well as in the Western, the functional approach to volunteering tends to be the most popular one. Scientists who support it consider an individual a volunteer as long as volunteering activities satisfy his or her motives by performing corresponding functions.

Thanks to analysis of Aseyev’s (2014) studies on the problem of personality motivation, we were able to distinguish the negative and positive basis of its components as well as the functional and the content side of the motive. The functional approach involves taking into account the following: actual experience; observation and reflection; the formation of abstract concepts and the testing in new situations. In this approach, it is important to take into account social and individual needs, intended specific goals, incentives, and the end result. A number of authors use this approach to consider motivation.

There is an amount of volunteers engaged in work implementing this approach. Following its logic, we can find the most suitable volunteers for certain activities by correlating the type of activity with the motivation of the direct participants of the activity, that is, volunteers. The Russian scientists single out internal motives of volunteers as well as external conditions that make them participate in non-profit activities.

Among the external motives for volunteering are invitation by friends, gratitude for trust and courteous treatment, and a responsible assignment. The internal motives include both altruistic socially useful and rational-egoistic motives, such as helping those in trouble, the ability to learn something, self-actualization, etc. By distinguishing internal and external motives, we mean that while volunteers meet their own needs participating in volunteering activities, they are also influenced significantly by external circumstances when they decide to become volunteers.

In Russia, the reasons leading people to volunteering are studied and clarified by psychologists and sociologists on purpose. In her analysis of the motives for volunteering, Kudrinskaya (2018) noted that there is a direct relation between these motives and the personal and social needs implementation.

Volunteers, guided by religious or humane values (for instance, to help the close ones, to perform a good deed, to follow the reference group norms, etc.) traditionally have a value-based motivation. According to Kudrinskaya (2018), a motivation for social and economic adaptation guides the volunteers who desire to obtain new acquaintances, information, life experience, and knowledge. In her work, the differences between certain volunteering activity directions were pointed out for the first time. She comes to conclusion that certain volunteering activity types are chosen by individuals to meet their own motives and needs.

The following types of motives can be distinguished: compensatory (overcoming the feeling of loneliness, problems solving, well-being improvement); personal growth (desire for self-actualization); idealistic (the need to change the social environment, to be active and useful in society); obtaining certain non-material benefits (knowledge, skills and abilities); social contacts extension (Shuvayeva, 2016).

Conclusion

The article considers the motivation from a historical perspective that allows observing the main trends in the development of this phenomenon, particularly in the area of volunteering. Volunteering is considered as an active volunteer activity inherent in the modern world community and is based on the legal documents regulating this activity.

Volunteering is a special system of labor relations, which is based on certain mechanisms of motivation for activity. The analysis of the main motives for volunteering used in Russian practice is presented as follows: compensatory (overcoming the feeling of loneliness), personal growth (pursuit of self-actualization), idealistic (the need to change the social environment, to be active and useful in society), extension of social and domestic competencies (knowledge and skills) and social contacts. An attempt was made to analyze the main works of foreign researchers to study the motivation of volunteers such as: altruism; the need for belonging (affiliation); corporatism; development of social skills; religious beliefs; focus on enhancing the prestige and status of a charitable organization; the formation of a humane, value-based and tolerant attitude towards the members of society; focus on the process of socialization and professional development of the volunteer personality.

The general conclusions of the analysis of domestic and foreign researchers’ works tell that at the present stage of society development it is difficult to determine the only way to understand the causes and motives of volunteer activity as well as to make a single, universal system of it. Each person has an individual set of motivations. Depending on a specific situation, volunteers can be guided by diverse motives. However, it is worth mentioning that participation in volunteering contributes to the strengthening of a positive influence on various spheres of the subject's life and can serve as a factor of the personal development of volunteers.

The conducted research of the historical aspects of studying the volunteering motivation both in domestic and foreign scientific literature allowed to make the conclusions: about the ambiguity and multivariance of the motivation for such activities, specifically among the social projects volunteers; about the need for a purposeful study of motives and the alignment of motivation with personal values and value-based orientations of volunteers, which will allow in the future to effectively carry out volunteer activities as long as possible and serve as a personal development factor of the volunteer movement participants.

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