Volunteers' Lifestyles: A Market Segmentation Study
Heidrich, Katheryn Wiedman
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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/70947
Description
Title
Volunteers' Lifestyles: A Market Segmentation Study
Author(s)
Heidrich, Katheryn Wiedman
Issue Date
1988
Doctoral Committee Chair(s)
Kleiber, Douglas A.
Department of Study
Leisure Studies
Discipline
Leisure Studies
Degree Granting Institution
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Degree Name
Ph.D.
Degree Level
Dissertation
Keyword(s)
Business Administration, Marketing
Recreation
Abstract
This study investigated the problem of volunteer recruitment and retention in nonprofit voluntary organizations. Volunteer recruitment was seen as a resource attraction task which could be investigated from a market segmentation point of view. It was thought that distinct lifestyle segments exist within the volunteer market and if these could be identified, voluntary organizations may be able to improve their recruitment and retention strategies.
The hypotheses tested were: (1) Each type of voluntary organization has a unique type of volunteer, characterized by particular lifestyles; (2) Types of roles within voluntary organizations are preferred by people with distinct lifestyles; and (3) People who are involved at different levels within organizations are characterized by different lifestyles. Three types of voluntary organizations were investigated: Business and Professional, Expressive, and Service. Four types of roles were studied: Direct Service, Leadership, General Support, and Member-at-large. Two levels of involvement were studied: Key Member and General Member.
Independent variables included socioeconomic-demographic measures, personal values, volunteering style, personality style, and leisure activity style.
Data were collected with a mail survey to a sample of 443 members of 15 voluntary organizations. The response rate was 74%. Discriminant analysis and classification analysis were the primary data analysis methods for each hypothesis.
Discriminant analysis of the data for the first hypothesis indicated that volunteers' lifestyles differ by type of organization. Discriminant analysis of data testing the second hypothesis indicated that volunteers' lifestyles differ by types of roles. Discriminant analysis of the data testing the third hypothesis indicated Key Members were different from General Members.
Classification analysis was used to test the ability of the discriminant functions to correctly classify "new" cases. The discriminant functions derived in the testing of Hypotheses I and II were shown to be significantly better than chance, however the functions derived in testing Hypothesis III were not better than chance.
It was concluded that the volunteer market may be meaningfully segmented and that volunteers' differing lifestyles may lead to effective targeting of particular groups.
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