Motivation for assistance activities among hospice, missionary and sport volunteers

Abstract

The aim of the study is to analyze motivation for undertaking activities to help others by people involved in various forms of volunteer work. We analyzed two sources of motivation: moral endo‒exocentrism and the value system among three groups: hospice, missionary and sports volunteers. The study involved 173 people between 16 to 77 years of age, 59 giving service in a hospice, 63 in missionary activities and 51 as sports volunteers. We applied the Moral Endo-Exocentrism Questionnaire (MEEQ) by Karyłowski, Górski and Wasiak and the Portraits Questionnaire (PVQ) by Schwartz. The study showed higher levels of exocentric than endocentric motivation among the three groups of volunteers. However, the intergroup value preference comparison revealed 7 values which significantly differentiated hospice, missionary and sports volunteers: Tradition, Hedonism, Success, Power, Self-Directing, Stimulation and Universalism.