Young People’s Motivations for Undertaking Voluntary Work

Against a backdrop of stubbornly high youth unemployment, an increasing number of young people are turning to voluntary work to improve their employability. Contributing to the Public and NonProfit stream of the Academy of Management Conference, this paper investigates young people at the interface of unemployment, voluntary work, and paid employment. The paper investigates both motivations for young people to undertake voluntary work, and also the rewards that increase their propensity to volunteer. It finds that, as compared to older people, those aged under 25 are more likely to view volunteering as an opportunity to improve their employability prospects. As such, they require some form of recognition that can be shown to potential employers. The paper concludes by investigating areas in which organisations can help to appeal to these motivations, and provide these rewards, in order to attract higher numbers of youth volunteers.