REPLY Volunteer Dynamics (SD6318)

[System Dynamics Mailing List]

Posted by  George Richardson <gpr at albany.edu>


On Mar 6, 2007, at 5:25 AM, System Dynamics Mailing List wrote:

> Posted by  "Megan Hopper" <mhopper83 at hotmail.com>
> I was wondering if anyone has seen SD research about volunteering.

My first thoughts on this interesting question are that there's a lot  
of psychology and sociology in it.  Probably the first place to look  
for work on the topic would be in those areas, where forces affecting  
interest, curiosity, motivation, group dynamics, group cohesion, the  
"joiner" personality, values, and so on, are considered.

My second thought is that as stated the problem is not obviously a  
system dynamics problem.  That is, it requires some development to  
see this question as a dynamic problem.  What graphs over time would  
one draw to begin to see this as a dynamic phenomenon?

That second thought suggests that some people may have studied this  
question using things like multiple regression (logit and probit?),  
to see what bits of numerical data help to predict the probability  
that people continue volunteering over some time frame, or predict  
the length of time of volunteering.  If that sort of study exists, it  
might actually answer the student's question, or it might be able to  
be turned into a dynamic problem statement and the beginnings of a  
feedback view that might help to explain the dynamics.

If that sort of study doesn't exist, I might suggest that the student  
take a step back from the system dynamics approach and instead try to  
carry out some version of such a multivariate regression study.

..George

George P. Richardson
Chair of public administration and policy
Rockefeller College of Public Affairs and Policy
University at Albany - SUNY, Albany, NY 12222 
Posted by  George Richardson <gpr at albany.edu>
posting date  Tue, 6 Mar 2007 09:12:21 -0500