‘Return on[boarding] investment’: Exploring volunteer onboarding experiences on newcomer behaviours and implications for volunteer board performance
Exploration of the onboarding experiences (OE) of newcomer volunteers in a volunteer leadership context is lacking in current volunteer management and governance research. Through a lens of socialization and self-efficacy principles, this study aims to address whether OE can be an interceding influence for newcomer behaviours and motivations. The level at which an individual is onboarded (Bauer, 2010) and the exchange between existing employees and newcomers, affects attitudinal aspects of the individual toward the role that they uphold (Sluss & Thompson, 2012). Increasing the knowledge base about the implications of onboarding practices within a volunteer context allows for more discernment surrounding appropriate considerations to effectively optimize the acquisition of knowledge and information for newcomers within a volunteer board, as well as how to enhance the interactional exchange between new individuals and existing members. Seven semi-structured interviews (approximately 45 – 60 minutes in length) were conducted with newcomer volunteers of non-profit sport or recreational organizations. New board members were considered to be within one year of their tenure, and were recruited to participate through various petitioned means. The study adopted an inductive approach complemented with thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006) as a way to parse-out and construe the data collected from each of the participants. Findings within this study highlighted a number of themes and sub-themes that may impact a newcomer’s OE. These themes (i.e., process, information and organizational knowledge acquisition, original intent to participate, and person-organization fit) are aspects for sport and recreation organizations to consider when onboarding new individuals to a group. Overall, this project sought to provide cogency toward the knowledge and experiences that foster individual group members’ motivations and actions at a volunteer leadership level. It begins to address the onboarding experiences in a volunteer context and questions if we can adapt similar principles and understanding to volunteers compared to a workplace setting.
Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research, University of Regina