Exploring volunteers' emotional reactions to a potential transition from a non-profit organisation towards a social enterprise

Purpose

By focussing on the anticipated emotional reactions of volunteers and drawing on theories of motivation and identity, this study investigates how volunteers react to different options of the entrepreneurial model of Amigos for Children Foundation (ACF). The paper proposes a hypothetical model for volunteer’s emotional reactions to potential business model changes. We suggest the relative importance of intrinsic motivational factors, professional identity and attitudes towards business organisations as mediating variables. ACF works exclusively with university students as volunteers, so their specific characteristics may limit some of the conclusions and propositions of this qualitative research, but public policy consequences of supporting similar entrepreneurial transitions can be generally relevant.

Design/methodology/approach

Based on the qualitative analysis of semi-structured interviews with volunteers of ACF, a Hungarian non-profit organisation, we explore the challenges of transitioning into a social enterprise.

Findings

Previous research showed controversial results about the impact of pay on the motivations of volunteers. For a non-profit organisation that would like to utilise the competencies of its volunteers, introducing a market-based service may mean additional financial resources and the potential loss of human resources. Understanding the moderating factors of volunteers' reactions might help build better theories for managing the non-profit-social enterprise transition and designing public policies to support scaling up the impact of successful social purpose organisations.

Originality/value

For practitioners, the research underlines the importance of participatory mechanisms in volunteer management. By managing transitions better, non-profit organisations can expand their social impact by acquiring more financial resources through market-based activities closely related to their original activities and keeping their volunteers. The study elucidates the relevance of the crowding-out effect and indicates some hypothetical moderating variables influencing its potential degree.