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The influence of age on volunteer contributions in a nonprofit organization
Author(s) -
Caldwell Steven D.,
Farmer Steven M.,
Fedor Donald B.
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
journal of organizational behavior
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.938
H-Index - 177
eISSN - 1099-1379
pISSN - 0894-3796
DOI - 10.1002/job.482
Subject(s) - psychology , diversity (politics) , nonprofit organization , volunteer , social psychology , age discrimination , age groups , quality (philosophy) , gerontology , demography , public relations , sociology , medicine , political science , philosophy , epistemology , anthropology , law , agronomy , biology
This study examines the role of chronological age and age diversity in relation to the effects of organizational influences on the contributions of 458 volunteers in 74 geographically dispersed teams of a large nonprofit organization. The results indicate that the quality of member selection has a greater positive influence on in‐role performance for older rather than younger volunteers that the quality of training for group members has a greater positive influence on in‐role performance for volunteers who are less dissimilar in age from others in the group, and that the positive effects of chronological age on helping behaviors depend on the mean age of the group such that it is stronger for groups with older age means. The findings are discussed along with their practical implications. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.