Volunteers' psychological contracts: Extending traditional views

There is a growing interest in applying the psychological contract concept to the
relationship between volunteers and nonprofit organizations. However, previous
studies overlook certain elements of volunteers' psychological contracts as they build
on theory established with reference to paid employees. We argue that the inclusion
of a value-based psychological contract type, next to transactional and relational types,
enables a more thorough understanding of perceived mutual obligations between
volunteers and nonprofit organizations. We use the critical incidents technique to
map volunteers' perceived (un)fulfilled obligations and find that volunteers perceive
both fulfilled and unfulfilled value-based obligations. Moreover, we describe specific
terms related to the mission and values of the organization reported by volunteers.
We conclude that future psychological contract research needs to take this valuebased
dimension into account, especially in volunteerism.

Publication year:2011

Keywords:psychological contract, ideological psychological contract, values, volunteers, nonprofit organizations