Abstract
Lots of researches investigated the motivations of volunteer service, but the classifications of volunteers’ motivations in previous studies were diverse and lack of organization. Therefore, the present study proposed a conceptual framework of “Goal-orientations of volunteer service” to integrate the motivations of volunteer service. In this framework, four kinds of goal orientations were distinguished: “Non-learning/Egoism goal”, “Learning/Egoism goal”, “Non-learning/Altruism goal” and “Learning/Altruism goal”. Moreover, the author incorporated the “Goal-orientations of volunteer service” framework with Self-determination theory and proposed a model to explore two issues: (1) the effects of undergraduate volunteers’ goal-orientations on their service satisfaction and service intention; (2) The mediating roles of three basic needs (i.e., Autonomy, Competence, and Relatedness) in the predicting effects of goal-orientations on service satisfaction. Scales were developed to measure the goal-orientations, basic needs, service satisfaction and service intention of volunteers. Participants were 211 undergraduates (101 females, 96 males, 1 gender unidentified) from 35 universities in Taiwan. Web-based and paper-based questionnaires were both adopted. The confirmatory factor analysis and reliability analysis showed that the validity and reliability of “Goal-orientations of volunteer service” scales are good fit. Results of the structural equation modeling showed that: (1) “Learning/Egoism goal” can positively predict undergraduate volunteers’ service satisfaction; (2) “Learning/Egoism goal” can positively predict three basic needs and positively predict service satisfaction through the mediating effects of Competence and Relatedness; (3) “Learning/Altruism goal” can positively predict Autonomy and Competence as well as positively predict service satisfaction through the mediating effect of Competence; (4) Participants’ service satisfaction can positively predict their service intention. The theoretical and practical implications of the results were discussed.