“Giving Time in My Own Time”: Autonomous Volunteering as an Understudied Phenomenon

Autonomous (self-managed) volunteering offers opportunities for organizations and those who desire to give time independently. However, we lack empirical studies on this emerging phenomenon. This study explores the case of DigiVol, a successful autonomous, online volunteering program, with a mixed-methods approach involving interviews and a large-scale survey of active and nonactive volunteers. We identified factors related to the retention of autonomous volunteers, including values, motivational functions (Volunteer Functions Inventory [VFI]), perceived organizational support, satisfaction, and commitment. “Understanding” was positively correlated to active volunteering, while “career” was negatively correlated. None of the tested basic human values (benevolence, universalism, self-direction) related to active volunteering. Perceived organizational support had no impact, but satisfaction and affective commitment did. This article contributes to our understanding of this novel phenomenon while offering implications for practice and directions for future research.