Motives and orientations towards volunteering: Examining the impact of culture and socioemotional selectivity.

摘要

In this study the cross-cultural aspects of the socioemotional selectivity process was tested by comparing perceived time differences in motivation to volunteer (MTV) between matched samples of American and Chinese students. An online survey was completed by 409 students from the U.S. and China who were randomly assigned to three different perceived time left in life conditions: one year of life left to live, 80 years of life left to live, and a control group. MANOVA analyses indicated that perceived time left in life did contribute to the prediction of affect towards volunteering and volunteer behaviors intention. As time is perceived to be limited, individuals tend to be more likely to engage in body part donation; whereas as time perceived to be unspecified, individuals are prone to help close alters. Culture, on the other hand, has a significant effect on volunteer motives, affect towards volunteering, and volunteer behaviors intention. Chinese are driven to volunteer by protective, social, and enhancement motives, while Americans are driven to volunteer by values. Interestingly, Chinese feel more negative affect towards volunteering than Americans do, and are more likely to donate body parts compared to their American counterparts.;Key words: perceived time left, cross-culture, socioemotional selectivity theory, motivation to volunteer, affect, volunteer behaviors intention