Recruitment of volunteers with immigrant backgrounds: The impact of structural and individual aspects
20/06/2024
Country: Norway
Publication Date: May 2024
Published in: Voluntas: International Journal of Voluntary and Non profit organisations (2024).
Authors: Silje SveenKirsti Sarheim AnthunLaila Tingvold
Free access to full paper: https://link.springer.com/journal/11266
Open access funding provided by NTNU Norwegian University of Science and Technology (incl St. Olavs Hospital - Trondheim University Hospital). This study received no external funding and is part of a Ph.D. research study at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in Gjøvik.
Volunteering is associated with health-promoting benefits for both recipients and volunteers and may contribute to a more inclusive society. However, studies have shown a persistent pattern of social inequality among those who volunteer. Immigrants participate less than the majority population as volunteers, despite support for volunteering as a strategy for integration into the community and associated benefits such as skills building and language training.
To date, approaches for recruiting immigrant populations have not been sufficiently examined, even though multicultural societies are becoming increasingly diverse. This paper explores the recruitment process in voluntary organisations, and what influences the recruitment process, and how this impacts volunteer participation.
Qualitative interviews were conducted with 18 volunteers and three employees with recruitment responsibility at five voluntary organizations engaged in welfare and community-related activities in a semirural district in Norway. The organisations involved included large national organisations and small locally bound organisations with varying levels of diversity in their volunteer cohort.
The findings show that different organisational or structural factors and the individual experiences and views of the recruiter influence the recruitment of immigrants as volunteers.
Large-scale organizations are more professionalized and more directed by fundings and frameworks and demand more qualifications due to their volunteer tasks. This might make inclusive recruitment more challenging.
Small-scale organizations have more flexibility and willingness to adapt recruitment for the needs of the immigrant, eg in personal face to face recruitment, and less professionalized volunteer activities, making recruitment more inclusive.
In addition, if the small-scale organizations are minority driven, it seems to positively influence the recruitment of immigrants through increased diversity sensitivity and more connections with immigrants through their social network.
The paper concludes volunteer organisations should develop diversity sensitivity in their recruitment approaches, and acknowledge that the social networks of those who recruit are crucial in recruitment, particularly in large scale volunteer organisations.