Individual and Organizational Factors in the Interchangeability of Paid Staff and Volunteers: Perspectives of Volunteers

Abstract

This study builds upon earlier studies of the degree of interchangeability between volunteers and paid staff in nonprofit organizations. While these earlier studies were from an organization perspective, this study is from the perspective of volunteers, and looks at individual and organizational characteristics in all types of organizations—nonprofits, for-profits, government agencies, and others. The findings indicate that 10.8% of volunteers reported replacing a paid staff member, 3.1% permanently. Volunteers also reported being replaced by paid staff: 7.6% reported being replaced, 2.1% permanently. The study suggests that organizations utilize a co-production model and appear to interchange their paid staff and volunteers when needed in tasks requiring higher-level skills. RÉSUMÉ Cette étude se fonde sur des études antérieures qui portaient sur le niveau d’interchangeabilité entre Cette étude se fonde sur des études antérieures qui portaient sur le niveau d’interchangeabilité entre bénévoles et salariés dans des organismes à but non lucratif. Tandis que ces études antérieures adoptaient une perspective organisationnelle, cette étude-ci adopte celle des bénévoles et examine les caractéristiques individuelles et organisationnelles de toutes sortes d’organisations—à but non lucratif, à but lucratif, gouvernementaux et coopératifs. Elle se fonde sur deux sous-échantillons provenant d’une enquête aléatoire par téléphone avec 768 individus provenant de partout au Canada. Les résultats indiquent que 10,8% des bénévoles disent avoir remplacé un salarié, 3,1% en permanence. Les bénévoles disent d’autre part que des salariés les ont remplacés : 7,6% ont ainsi été remplacés par des salariés, 2,1% en permanence. L’étude semble montrer que les organisations utilisent un modèle de co-production et paraissent échanger leurs salariés et bénévoles au besoin pour des tâches requérant des habiletés de haut niveau.

Inside “Pandora’s Box” of Solidarity: Conflicts Between Paid Staff and Volunteers in the Non-profit Sector

“…These circumstances lead to the appearance of process conflicts, defined as disagreements about how a task should be accomplished, including issues such as who should do what and how much responsibility each member of the group should take (Jehn, 1997;Jehn and Mannix, 2001). Indeed, Mook et al (2014) demonstrated that, on the one hand, 10.8% of volunteers reported that they replaced a paid staff member, with 3.1% of those cases permanently. On the other hand, volunteers also reported being replaced by paid staff: 7.6% reported being replaced, with 2.1% of those cases being permanently replaced.…”

Are the Wages Paid by Non-Profits Sensitive to Volunteering? Evidence From France

“…Such situations have been observed on several occasions (e.g. : Baines, 2004; Handy et al, 2008; Mook et al, 2014). In these cases, the increased use of volunteers is likely to go hand in hand with tighter wage restraint policies, which would in turn be reflected in lower wages than those paid by the non-profits not experiencing such economic difficulties.…”

“…It is also regularly mentioned in studies of the influence of organizational context on volunteering (Studer & von Schnurbein, 2013). And of course it is at the heart of research on the existence of complementarity or substitution between voluntary and paid work and their degree of interchangeability (Brudney & Gazley, 2002; Chum et al, 2013; Handy et al, 2008; Mook et al, 2014; Simmons & Emanuele, 2010; Stine, 2008).…”

The Paradox of Employee–Volunteer Interchangeability in a Supported Social Enterprise

“…Research has also shown that volunteers can experience tensions (e.g., competition and antagonism) as a result of interchangeability. Mook et al (2014), for instance, found that volunteers felt it was unfair when they were replaced by paid staff. However, they also felt it was unfair when they replaced paid staff.…”