Volunteer motivation, personality and related factors among volunteers of Department of Probation, Bangkok.

Abstract

Background : Volunteer Probation Officers are important human resource for Department of Probation. They search and solve problems of people who are on probation to re-socialize. So far, there has been no study about volunteer motivation and their personality.

Objective : To explore characteristics of volunteer motivation, personalities and the association between volunteer motivation and personality including related factors among volunteers of Department of Probation in Bangkok.

Design : A cross-sectional descriptive study

Setting : Probation Office, Bangkok

Materials and Methods : The data were collected from August to December 2015; We recruited a group of volunteers of Department of Probation, Bangkok who were working in 2015 by stratified proportional random sampling; a total of two hundred and sixty-six. Participants completed five questionnaires regarding to their demographic data, information of career operation, Volunteer Functions Inventory (VFI), The Maudsley Personality Inventory (MPI) and Revised Thai Rosenberg Self Esteem Scale (Revised Thai RSES). The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, t-test, One-way ANOVA, Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient and Stepwise Multiple Linear Regression Analysis.

Results : Most participants have a high level of motivation (72.6%). Mainly the dimension of volunteer motivation is the value and the lowest reason for taking the job is career. Mostly, the type of personality is extroversion-stability (59.3%). Related factors with statistically significance to volunteer motivation include gender, occupational, personality scale-E, personality type and self-esteem. There is a positive correlation between personality scale-E and volunteer motivation with statistically significance at the 0.01 level. This study found that personality scale-E, being employee, male and self-esteem could predict volunteer motivation with a predictive value of 8.5%

Conclusion : Volunteers of Department of Probation, Bangkok have the value dimension and extroversion-stability personality. Also, personality scale-E, being employee, male and self-esteem could predict volunteer motivation with a predictive value of 8.5%