Abstract:

Volunteer activities among younger population in Romania is not approached separately from general volunteer work. According to the 2020 Youth Barometer commissioned by the Ministry of Youth and Sports, 52% of young people participate in volunteer activities, compared with only 13% in 2012 (YouthWiki European Commission website, November 2023).

The main aim of this study is to expand the Self-Determination Theory (SDT) for Babeș-Bolyai University (BBU) in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, students to do volunteer work in the university, a theory that has been used frequently to examine volunteers’motives. Another objective of the present research is to explore how the communication before and during volunteer activities enhances or reduces volunteers’ motivation and satisfaction and also the likelihood of future volunteering. In spite of the fact that a relevant number of studies revolve around volunteering, only little academic research focuses on the volunteering of higher education students. To address these objectives, an online survey among 700 students from BBU was conducted between October 2023 – February 2024, during the first semester of the academic year 2023/24.

In the theoretical section, we deal with the Self-Determination Theory and the sources of motivation, the voluntary activity and its legal framework in Romania, and last but not least the ”Volunteer at BBU” program carried out by the Volunteering Office of BBU. A relevant finding of our study is that a higher level of volunteers' motivation stems from their ability to express values, achieve career goals, engage in social affairs, and seek out a better understanding of others. Furthermore, the communication during the recruitment process and the actual act of volunteering potentially influences a volunteer's overall motivation towards getting involved in such an effort. Orientations provided by supervisors, together with training, greatly improve satisfaction levels as well as willingness to continue to engage in voluntary work.

Keywords:

Volunteering, community outreach, Self-Determination Theory, higher education students, university, intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, communication.