Sense of community causal relationship with volunteer engagement as moderated by community size

ABSTRACT

This quantitative study used the sense of community theory in conjunction with Dunbar's number theory to hypothesize the relationships between sense of community and volunteer engagement as moderated by community size for Michigan Farm Bureau members. A study of an organization's volunteer management structure through the combination of Dunbar's number theory and the sense of community theory to determine engagement is critical to understanding the underlying logic for creating a strong volunteer force and how organizational structure can be leveraged to attract and maintain volunteers. The COVID-19 pandemic may change the way organizations interface with volunteers. Understanding how to make each volunteer interaction meaningful for both the volunteer and the organization will be critical. A linear regression model was used to analyze data gathered using the Brief Sense of Community Scale and the Revised Productive Engagement Portfolio scenario scale for volunteering for Michigan Farm Bureau members who had a valid email address. Community size was categorized into small or large for the moderation effect analysis. The R2 value indicated that 13.5% of the variance in volunteer engagement can be explained by sense of community for the sample population. However, community size did not display an interaction effect on the relationship between sense of community and volunteer engagement. Future research could include comparisons of other moderating variables such as available free time, education, and household identifiers. Future research should take into consideration the role social networking platforms play in determining the strength of sense of community. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved)