Job Satisfaction and Employee Retention Correlates of Corporate Volunteerism Dissertation

This paper presents three approaches to answering the research question posed earlier in the course: does corporate support for volunteerism and other philanthropic activities bring about benefits for the company in point of employee satisfaction and retention? Such a question involves social science research into the value of promoting a social good (Coryn, 2009) that does not necessarily impact corporate revenue.

For a quantitative approach, the proposed core is a 3 X 2 factorial design because the independent variable (IV) is operationalized as three types of corporate environments (within the same industry) and there are two ways to define the dependent variable (DV).

The impact of mediating variables will be minimized by selecting one industry, financial services, and three firms of approximately the same size in point of staffing and assets. This way, we respond to the imperative Creswell (2009) holds of bolstering cause-effect relationships by controlling intervening variables in quasi-experimental designs.

This design is self-contained because cell 1 effectively represents the baseline against which, it is hypothesized, the token and active volunteerism styles will respectively reveal modest and substantial effects on the twin DVs. The DV’s are linked, given that job satisfaction has at least a mediated effect on absenteeism and turnover (Goldberg and Waldman, 2000).

The proposed sub-sample size of 200 is a prudent compromise between precision and the cost of enlarging the samples. For common proportions that might be estimated (a range of, say, 25% to 70% since the values of p excluded correspond to [1-p] in the given range) and a Z value for commonly accepted 95% confidence level of estimates, a base of 200 yields a margin of error of ±6.9%.

For comparability, desk research on retention measures employee turnover and absenteeism shall be extended at least as long as the financial institution has engaged in either token or active volunteerism support.

This design boasts the regular benefits of quantitative studies in employing large samples, systematic sampling procedures that meet criteria for probability tests of significance and reducing bias. Given the reliability of rigorously applied quantitative methods, the findings can be compared over time (Cozby, 2009).

In practical terms, the advantage of a quantitative approach lies in predictive value. The investigation of cause-and-effect can be projected with a reasonable degree of confidence to the universe of financial services institutions around the nation and replicated in other industrial settings. Thus, a CEO or Board of Directors can be satisfied that there is an endogenous benefit to practicing corporate social responsibility via volunteer or community-service channels.

The returns on corporate social responsibility cover a wide range, the most fundamental being an enhanced corporate image. The envisioned research problem can therefore also be addressed with a series of qualitative depth interviews. While depth interview procedures are straightforward, a satisfactory research design (below) acknowledges that many stakeholders comprise the target publics of corporate image.

Commencing primary data-gathering with qualitative depth interviews gains the advantages of:

1. Empathy between interviewer and subjects, particularly strong in face-to-face depth interviews.
2. Cues or insights into in-depth motivations and feelings which may explain the results generated by the quantitative phase.
3. Flexibility in question sequence and wording depending on initial answers of respondents.
4. Probing to generate a comprehensive range of volunteerism issues.

The third and fourth advantages above are particularly important in fulfilling the promise of qualitative research for scrutinizing the attitudes, opinions, sources of employee satisfaction or dissatisfaction concerning volunteerism, trust, self-fulfillment (Starnes, 2007; Peterson, 2004), management perspectives, and interests of the seven stakeholders generally. Ultimately, the benefit is for the researcher to explore how deeply each stakeholder type is involved in matters of volunteerism and community service, discover new ideas for inclusion in follow-up quantitative surveys, and provide insight into why quantitative data turn out as they do (Zikmund, 2003).

True, other qualitative techniques are possible. However, focus groups are not viable for this research purpose because we cannot discount the biasing effects of social pressure to conform to a community service ideal (Cozby, 2009).

It should be clear by now that the proposed research question is best addressed with both the quantitative and qualitative designs to achieve both insight and predictive value. Hence, the research project entails mixed methods. To this “double-barreled” approach, we add a case study from the repertoire of mixed methods.

Augmenting the methodology with the case study as an exploratory step provides the benefit of open-mindedness to gathering valuable lessons and insights. One obtains leads about innovative approaches and unexpected benefits from the experiences of other philanthropic businessmen and volunteer organizers. In terms of the research process, the other significant benefit of case studies is the pursuit of leads for follow-up in future research (Zikmund, 2003). Operationally, this stage will involve a search in a journal and technical paper databases for volunteerism case studies, especially those revolving on financial-service institutions.

Trochim and Donnelly (2008) also justify mixed methods involving case studies and the qualitative-quantitative mix when one has advanced beyond naturalistic inquiry but the situation does not permit experimental testing. A review of the literature provides substantial support for the hypothesis that businesses do benefit from volunteerism support in point of employee satisfaction and, quite possibly, employee retention (Goldberg and Waldman, 2000; Starnes, 2007). However, the current recession has put pressure on the sustainability of financial institutions themselves and the evolution of community needs may mean that corporate social responsibility is sought in new avenues. Hence, this research proposal can be expected to uncover how much flexibility businesses retain and what social needs they respond to that provide tangible organizational benefits.

References

1. Coryn, C. L. S. (2009). What is social science research and why would we want to evaluate it? In C. L. S. Coryn, Evaluating social science research: A handbook for researchers, instructors, and students (pp. 1-14). New York, NY: Guilford.
2. Cozby, P. C. (2009). Methods in behavioral research (10th ed.). Boston: McGraw Hill Higher Education.
3. Creswell, J. W. (2009). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
4. Goldberg, C. B. & Waldman, D. A. (2000). Modeling employee absenteeism: Testing alternative measures and mediated effects based on job satisfaction. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 21, 665-76.
5. Peterson, D. K. (2004). Benefits of participation in corporate volunteer programs: Employees’ perceptions. Personnel Review, 33 (6): 615 – 627.
6. Starnes, B. J. (2007). Trust, job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and the volunteer’s psychological contract. The International Journal of Volunteer Administration, XXIV (5).
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8. Zikmund, W. (2003). Business research methods (7th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Thomson/South-Western.