The Emotional Dimension of Volunteering: Quantitative Measures

Volunteering is an essential part of the society. It is considered a complex phenomenon that is associated with emotional and moral dilemmas. The emotions of the volunteers are crucial to their performance. However, their study is not given as much attention as micro-level characteristics, especially in the Russian context. This is partly due to the fact that society expects positive emotions from volunteers, and their research is considered unnecessary, on the other hand, because emotions are actually complex, as they are associated with the turbulences of the social sphere in which volunteers construct these emotions. In our work, we study aspects of the emotional component of volunteeriing and the factors that affect them. Based on a theoretical framework that includes sociological (e.g., social exchange theory), organizational (e.g., organizational socialization), and psychological (e.g., identity-based theories) paradigms, we propose the existence of aspects and emotional indicators such as valence index, emotional intelligence, emotional burnout, subjective emotional contagion, and the nature of emotions. We also identify five groups of factors that determine the intense of these aspects: motivational, identity-based, socio-demographic, infrastructural, and experience. We combine qualitative and quantitative approaches. At the qualitative stage, 6 semi-structured in-depth interviews are conducted with volunteers from 6 areas of volunteering: social, event, sports, environmental, public safety and animal welfare. Then a quantitative survey of 240 formal and informal volunteers in Moscow from the same areas of activity is conducted on a quota sample with 2 quotas: the form of volunteering and gender, while maintaining the distribution within the areas of volunteering. In the study, we identify the causes of emotional burnout, groups of volunteers by the nature of their emotions, groups of motives of volunteers and types of their identity. We come to the following conclusions. Formal and informal volunteers have equally high emotional intelligence and are equally susceptible to burnout. Emotional intelligence is lower among volunteers engaged in public safety volunteering. Women, compared to men, tend to experience emotions to the greatest extent: both positive and negative, that is, they have a higher valence index.