Internal Marketing

Voluntas: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit OrganizationsVol. 16, No. 3, September 2005 ( C© 2005)DOI: 10.1007/s11266-005-7724-0

Internal Marketing, Negative Experiences,and Volunteers’ Commitment to ProvidingHigh-Quality Services in a UK Helpingand Caring Charitable Organization

Roger Bennett1 and Anna Barkensjo1,2

This empirical study examined the effects of “negative” contact experiences withbeneficiaries on charity volunteers’ job satisfaction and organizational commit-ment within a helping and caring charitable organization that for 3.5 years hadoperated an internal marketing program. It was hypothesized that negative ex-periences downwardly moderated (i) the impact of the charity’s internal marketactivities on satisfaction and commitment, and (ii) the influences of certain jobattributes (autonomy, teamworking, and supervisory support) on these variables.Three personal characteristics (affect intensity, vulnerability to stress, and a per-son’s reasons for having become a volunteer) were also posited to moderate theeffects of negative experiences on job satisfaction and organizational commit-ment. Linkages between the last two variables and a volunteer’s desire to providehigh-quality client services were explored. The results indicated strong connec-tions between job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and a volunteer’spersonal commitment to providing high-quality services. Levels of organizationalcommitment were influenced positively and significantly by the charity’s internalmarketing activities and negatively by the number of unpleasant client-contactexperiences that a volunteer had to endure.

KEY WORDS: internal marketing; charities; volunteering; job satisfaction; service quality; UnitedKingdom.

1Department of Business and Service Sector Management, London Metropolitan University, London,United Kingdom.

2Correspondence should be directed to Roger Bennett, Centre for Research in Marketing, Departmentof Business and Service Sector Management, London Metropolitan University, 84 Moorgate, LondonEC2M 6SQ, United Kingdom; e-mail: [email protected]

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0957-8765/05/0900-0251/1 C© 2005 International Society for Third-Sector Research and The Johns Hopkins University

252 Bennett and Barkensjo

INTRODUCTION

Charities concerned with helping and caring for people with social, psy-chological, or medical disabilities depend critically on the inputs of volunteerworkers (Shin and Kleiner, 2003; Starnes and Wymer, 1999). To cite just a fewBritish examples, the Samaritans (a large UK charity that provides assistance todepressed people) had 21,300 volunteers in 2003; Victim Support (an organiza-tion that aids victims of crime) had 14,000 voluntary helpers; the British SalvationArmy had 10,000; the UK Hospice Movement 80,000, and the charitable trusts ofthe National Health Service 36,000 (figures taken from organizational websites).Many of these volunteers provide first-line client contact services and, very often,the beneficiaries of a charity will regard such first-line (“contact”) volunteers as acrucial element of the organization’s service provision. Thus for instance hospicevolunteers furnish personal care services (changing linen, giving bed baths, mas-sage, shampoos, etc.); support (listening, holding hands, reassuring); entertaining(reading books, playing cards, swapping jokes); etc. (Stephany, 1989). Gidron’s(1983) survey of “human service” charities described the activities of volunteerswho ran occupational therapy groups in a mental hospital, tutored slow readers,acted as “big brothers” in a probation office, operated help lines for the homeless,and offered companionship to the lonely. Volunteers in asylum seeker and refugeecharities (which rely almost totally on unpaid workers) represent beneficiariesin their dealings with government immigration officials, with landlords, socialsecurity offices, and so on. Volunteers of this nature manage service supply andeffectively “create the service offering at the place and time of contact” (Judd,2001, p. 12).

Charities often make large investments in the recruitment and training ofcontact volunteers. Yet attrition rates can be considerable (up to 40% in the first12 months following training in certain helping and caring organizations—seeStarnes and Wymer, 1999). High turnover is especially damaging when volunteerspossess special skills where jobs require a long-term commitment, and whena volunteer’s withdrawal will be personally damaging for clients (Fischer andSchaffer, 1993; Miller et al., 1990). Low levels of volunteer job satisfactionand organizational commitment are known to represent major determinants ofvolunteers’ decisions to withdraw (Galindo-Kuhn and Guzley, 2001; Gidron, 1983;Miller et al., 1990; Pearce, 1983; Starnes and Wymer, 2001). Moreover, even if anindividual does not actually quit the organization, lack of commitment and poorjob satisfaction can reduce a volunteer’s desire to provide high quality service toa charity’s clients (Adams and Shepherd, 1996; Cyr and Dowrick, 1991; Fischerand Schaffer, 1993; Shin and Kleiner, 2003).

This paper presents the results of an empirical study of the influences of twopossible antecedents of volunteer job satisfaction and commitment that (to thebest of the authors’ knowledge) have not been previously investigated, namely

Internal Marketing, Negative Experiences, and Volunteers’ Commitment 253

internal marketing and negative volunteer experiences. The effects of certain joband personal characteristics were also considered. Although internal marketing hasbeen studied extensively in the commercial domain (Ahmed et al., 2003; Caruanaand Calleya, 1998; Davis, 2001; Varey, 1995), its potential usefulness for nonprofitvoluntary organizations has not been examined. Clearly, however, charities that usevolunteer labor need to gain an understanding of how best to nurture and manageinternal relationships with their voluntary workers. Accordingly the current paperseeks to help fill this important gap in the nonprofit research literature by reportingthe results of a study of the effects of internal marketing in a charitable organizationthat had implemented such a program 3.5 years prior to the time the study wascompleted.

Investigations undertaken in the for-profit sector have concluded that internalmarketing is an excellent device for developing organizational satisfaction andcommitment (Ahmed et al., 2003; Varey, 1995) as well as for enhancing mo-tivation and retention. It is important to examine matters of this nature in thenonprofit volunteering context as they have the capacity to contribute to clientwelfare. Specifically, the research explored the impact of a disagreeable but in-evitable facet of volunteering in the helping and caring area, namely situationsinvolving disturbing and unpleasant incidents, on the connection between internalmarketing and volunteer commitment. Internal marketing and the role of negativeexperiences are discussed in the next two sections. Then the possible influenceson job satisfaction and organizational commitment of specific job and personalcharacteristics suggested by prior literature in the field are outlined. Finally theresults of the research are presented and their managerial implications examined.

INTERNAL MARKETING

The term “internal marketing” describes a collection of human resource poli-cies and procedures that treat employees (volunteers in the present context) asmembers of an “internal market” that needs to be informed, educated, developed,and motivated in order to serve clients more effectively. The concept of internalmarketing emerged from the total quality management literature of the 1960s(Doukakis, 2003). Internal marketing seeks to develop client-consciousness and aservice ethos among employees (volunteers) via the application of marketing meth-ods, especially marketing communications, to the organization’s dealings with itspersonnel. The aim is to “create an internal environment wherein customer con-sciousness proliferates among employees” (Caruana and Calleya, 1998, p. 108).Thus, employees (volunteers) are viewed both as (i) “internal customers,” and (ii)“products” that are used to attain the objective of satisfying clients’ requirements.Advocates of internal marketing suggest, therefore, that managements should at-tempt to “sell” ideas about appropriate attitudes and behavior to their workers


(Davis, 2001). Effective internal marketing allegedly increases the job satisfac-tion and organizational commitment of employees, leading to greater motivationto provide better client service, improved performance, and lower turnover (Bellet al., 2004; Caruana and Calleya, 1998; Doukakis, 2003; Varey, 1995).

Internal Marketing Techniques

Reviews of the academic and practitioner literature on internal marketingcompleted by Ahmed et al. (2003), Galpin (1997), George (1990), Davis (2001),Doukakis (2003), and Judd (2001) identified several core elements typically in-cluded in operational internal marketing programmes, namely:

• sound internal communications with extensive information sharing andregular two-way interactions. Personnel should be made familiar with theorganization’s strategies, goals, and activities, and of the linkages betweentheir own duties and the work of others;

• training people (i) to understand clients’ needs, and (ii) in interpersonalrelationship skills. Training and staff development should be ongoing andnot restricted to ad hoc short courses and seminars;

• helping individuals to work together in teams, to undertake joint problemsolving and to think beyond their personal job descriptions;

• establishing clearly defined reporting and organization structures;• empowering workers (i.e., giving them the maximum amount of discretion

regarding how they complete their duties);• conspicuously recognizing individual accomplishments and contributions

(in newsletters for instance);• providing employees (volunteers) with a vision.

NEGATIVE EXPERIENCES

Front-line volunteering activities within helping and caring organizationsentail, in the words of Omoto and Snyder (1995, p. 672), “considerable com-mitment and sizeable personal costs.” Positive outcomes to volunteers’ contactswith beneficiaries are likely to generate feelings of role satisfaction (De Riveraet al., 1989), and a great sense of accomplishment and gratification (Shin andKleiner, 2003). A positive volunteering experience, according to literature citedby Starnes and Wymer (2001), is one which makes the volunteer feel needed,appreciated, and competent, and which induces the belief that the person is mak-ing a difference. Positive experiences are known to contribute to job satisfactionand self-esteem and to induce volunteers to continue in service (Gidron, 1983;


Miller et al., 1990; Pearce, 1983; Shin and Kleiner, 2003). Unfortunately howevera volunteer’s experiences with the clients of a helping and caring charity can benegative as well as positive, and this might not be realized at the moment thevolunteer joins the organization (Starnes and Wymer, 2001).

Rubin and Thorelli (1984, p. 224) commented on the “reality of ambivalent,resistant clients who may resent or otherwise be unable to express gratitude tothe (social services) volunteer.” Beneficiaries, they continued, might focus on thenegative aspects of receiving help, viewing this as a “humiliating experience” and“a negative reflection of their own capacities” (Rubin and Thorelli, 1984, p. 225).This could lead beneficiaries to resent or derogate the helper. Indeed, hostilitymight be greatest towards those volunteers who tried hardest to assist the client.Hence, according to Rubin and Thorelli (1984, p. 225), social service volunteers(especially those working with the disadvantaged) often experienced “despair,bitterness, anger and other negative emotions.” Fischer and Schaffer (1993) foundthat large numbers of volunteers began their service in a “honeymoon” phaseof euphoria, but thereafter lost motivation as they encountered negative criticalincidents that caused them to realize that they would not be able to accomplish asmuch as they had anticipated. Recruits may be naive, have expectations that differfrom reality, and be greatly disheartened by negative events (Bussell and Forbes,2002). Thus a fresh volunteer might be outraged if, despite his or her exhaustiveefforts and genuine desire to help, beneficiaries are rude, uncooperative, refuseto accept assistance, break promises, miss scheduled meetings, or damage thevolunteer’s self-esteem in some way (cf., Bitner et al., 1990; Gidron, 1983).

Client contact work in a helping and caring charity can be highly stressful andhas the potential to lead to emotional exhaustion. The latter might be brought on,according to Fischer and Schaffer (1993, p. 27), by feelings of being overwhelmed,by grief at situations witnessed, frustration at being thwarted (e.g., if beneficiariesfail to take the volunteer’s advice); and by the special difficulties experienced byserving clients who are financially very poor and in other respects “particularlyneedy.” Omoto and Snyder (1995) found that around 50% of all the volunteers oftheir sample of HIV/AIDS patient support organizations quit shortly after startingwork, often in consequence of the distressing situations they experienced and feel-ings of not being able to cope with psychologically disturbing incidents. Wymer’s(1999) survey of hospital volunteers concluded that volunteers’ perceptions thatbeneficiaries were “unfriendly” or “unpleasant” made voluntary hospital work un-enjoyable, resulting in decisions to drop out (Wymer, 1999, p. 69). (It is relevantto note in this connection that, unlike [most] paid employees, volunteers can quitwithout first obtaining another position–see Miller et al., 1990.)

Even if negative experiences do not impel a volunteer to withdraw, theycan still have a damaging impact on a charity’s overall level of service quality.A volunteer who goes through a large number of disagreeable incidents mightlose his or her self-confidence and sense of meaning in a job role (Kahn, 1990),


and generally feel that his or her work is not appreciated. This could lead to aloss of interest and enthusiasm, less commitment to the organization, and half-hearted provision of services to beneficiaries. The problem might be more seriousin voluntary than in commercial organizations, as a volunteer’s motivation forworking is not normally financial. (A paid employee is perhaps more willing toput up with disagreeable client interactions.)

MODERATING INFLUENCES

It has been argued above that negative experiences have the potential toreduce a volunteer’s job satisfaction and organizational commitment. It is possiblehowever that certain variables moderate the force of the relationship, namely affectintensity, vulnerability to stress, and an individual’s reasons for having volunteeredin the first instance. These are discussed in turn.

Affect Intensity

Arguably the psychological effects of distressing negative experiences on avolunteer’s satisfaction and commitment will be greater the more intensely theperson feels his or her emotions (cf., Salovi et al., 1991; Shaffer and Graziano,1983). The term “affect intensity” describes the strength of the emotions thatindividuals feel when responding to emotion-inducing incidents (Larson, 1984).Thus a person with high affect intensity (HAI) might be expected to react to anemotionally disturbing experience in a deeply emotional (and psychologically un-pleasant) way. High affect intensity individuals have been found to report feelinggreat discomfort when confronted with events that evoke painful negative emo-tions, causing them actively to avoid contact with the disagreeable issue (Moore,1995). Consequently, the desire of an HAI person to make himself/herself feelbetter stimulates that individual to want to withdraw from a distressing situationto a greater extent than occurs with a low affect intensity person. Hence affectintensity might be expected to moderate the relationship between a negative ex-perience and a volunteer’s job satisfaction and commitment. An HAI individualmight become significantly less satisfied and committed consequent to a specificnegative experience than a low affect intensity person.

Vulnerability to Stress

Although stress has positive as well as negative aspects (some people thriveon tense and challenging situations), continued exposure to stress can have de-bilitating physical and psychological consequences. Work performance and job


satisfaction often deteriorate when individuals experience protracted exposure tohigh levels of stress (Graham and Bennett, 1995). The duties of a first-line con-tact volunteer in a helping and caring charity can be extremely stressful (Babinand Boles, 1996; Gidron, 1983; House, 1981). Intense stress has been found tocontribute to volunteer “burnout” (Cyr and Dowrick, 1991, p. 343), demotivation(Adams and Shepherd, 1996), illness (Daniels and Guppy, 1994; Folkman et al.,1986), and high rates of attrition (Miller et al., 1990; Omoto and Snyder, 1995;Starnes and Wymer, 2001). Certain individuals are more susceptible to the dam-aging consequences of a stressful event than are others (Cyr and Dowrick, 1991;Daniels and Guppy, 1994). Hence, the level of a person’s vulnerability to stressmay be expected to influence the way in which he or she reacts to a negative expe-rience. Accordingly it is posited that someone who is susceptible to the debilitatingimpact of stress is likely to report lower job satisfaction and less organizationalcommitment following unpleasant incidents than a volunteer who is not deeplyaffected by stressful situations.

Reasons for Volunteering

Another consideration with the capacity to moderate the links between nega-tive experiences and satisfaction and commitment is perhaps an individual’s coremotivation for having volunteered in the first instance. A person may have vol-unteered because of a sense of obligation to a particular good cause, feelingsof social responsibility, or altruistic empathy with the afflicted (Amato, 1990).Equally, there is evidence to suggest that many people volunteer to attain (pre-dominantly egoistic) social, psychological, and practical benefits (Bennett andKottasz, 2000; Bussell and Forbes, 2002; Rubin and Thorelli, 1984). Egoisticmotivations include the desires to obtain work experience and training; to “getout of the house” and make new friends; and to experience enhanced self-esteemand a “sense of belonging” (Bennett and Kottasz, 2000, p. 51). Importantly, thereasons for continuing as a volunteer can differ significantly from the reasons forhaving volunteered in the first place (Pearce, 1983; Rubin and Thorelli, 1984;Shin and Kleiner, 2003; Starner and Wymer, 1999). Galindo-Kuhn and Guzley(2001, p. 48), for instance, cited a number of investigations that concluded thatalthough people typically volunteer initially for altruistic reasons, they continueto volunteer, “because they enjoy what they are getting from the experience.”Negative incidents make a volunteer’s work less enjoyable and hence might causethe person to experience lower job satisfaction and feel less commitment to theorganization. However, the demotivating influence of a specific negative eventmight be mitigated if a person’s reasons for volunteering in the first instance wereexceptionally altruistic. Support for this proposition arises from a study completedby Rubin and Thorelli (1984), who found that individuals who volunteered for


egoistic motives remained with the recruiting organization for shorter periods thanvolunteers with predominantly altruistic motives.

JOB CHARACTERISTICS

Many studies have concluded that practical job-related factors affect volun-teers’ motivation, satisfaction and commitment to an organization (Adams andShepherd, 1996; Bussell and Forbes, 2002; Galindo-Kuhn and Guzley, 2001). Themain variables suggested by this literature are discussed below.

Autonomy

A volunteer’s sense of being in control and of significantly contributing to anorganization’s development might be greatly enhanced by allowing the person tocomplete tasks and attain objectives independently, without constantly referringback to supervisors for permission to take certain actions (cf., Bennett, 1997).Dailey’s (1986) study of volunteer political campaign workers found that, ingeneral, task characteristics exerted major influences on job satisfaction, whichin turn affected organizational commitment; in particular, the greater the degreeof job autonomy the higher the level of commitment. Similar outcomes havebeen reported by Galindo-Kuhn and Guzley (2001), Starnes and Wymer (2001),and Wharton (1991). Gidron (1983, p. 32) concluded that the “individuation” ofvolunteer jobs was essential in order to provide a person with “self-expressive”tasks that gave a volunteer the opportunity to develop his or her skills and abilities.The experience, fresh ideas, and enthusiasm that volunteers bring to their work cangreatly benefit the organization (Shin and Kleiner, 2003). Hence it may well beappropriate to allow a volunteer to help determine how his or her job is completed(cf., Peccei and Rosenthal, 1997). Williamson (1996) found that job satisfactionamong social services workers was negatively related to bureaucratic controls inthe workplace.

Teamwork

Allegedly, people who work in teams receive support and encouragementfrom coworkers and hence are more likely to feel close to the organization(Bell et al., 2004). Information is shared and two-way communications develop(Flaherty and Pappas, 2000). As people interact they begin to adopt common per-ceptions of issues, interchange roles, and generally help each other out. Critically,a volunteer who works with other volunteers as a member of a team may receivevaluable psychological support from these covolunteers which helps the person


cope with negative experiences (Bell et al., 2004) and the stress they engender(Daniels and Guppy, 1994). Teamworking creates a “social aspect” to a volunteer’sjob independent of the person’s contacts with clients (Galindo-Kuhn and Guzley,2001, p. 54). It has been found to prevent volunteer “burnout” (Cyr and Dowrick,1991) and to be associated with higher levels of job satisfaction (Stevens, 1991).

Supervision

A contact volunteer’s ability to provide excellent service to beneficiariesdepends substantially on the support provided by the organization, particularlyat the supervisory level (cf., George, 1990). A priori, it is to be anticipated thatextensive and considerate supervisory support will have a positive impact ona volunteer’s job satisfaction and organizational commitment (see Bell et al.,2004 for details of studies supporting this proposition). Supervisory support ismanifest in friendly guidance; trust of the employee (volunteer); open and two-way communications; the provision of operational objectives and time frames andfeedback on performance; and the allocation of interesting and appropriate duties(Babin and Boles, 1996; Flaherty and Pappas, 2000). Moreover, individuals whobelieve that they are supported by their supervisors have been found to be morelikely to adopt positive outlooks towards their activities, and to “perform behaviorsthat are consistent with organizational values (e.g., the provision of excellentcustomer service) espoused by the supervisor” (Bell et al., 2004, p. 115). As well asenhancing satisfaction and commitment, sound supervision allegedly encouragesvolunteers to continue their service (Starnes and Wymer, 2001) and to feel “valued”by the organization (Eisenberger et al., 1990). It may also develop within thevolunteer a sense of obligation that results in (i) behavior designed to benefit theorganization (Shore and Wayne, 1993), and (ii) greater effort (Eisenberger et al.,2001).

The relationships between supervisory support on the one hand, and jobsatisfaction and commitment on the other, could in principle be moderated bynegative experiences. Following a disagreeable incident a volunteer will naturallyturn to his or her immediate supervisor, whose support should help the person“de-stress” and come to terms with the upsetting situation (Folkman et al., 1986,p. 995). Importantly, supervisors can proffer social support that cannot be providedby (anonymous) senior managers (Srivastava and Sager, 1999).

A SUGGESTED MODEL

A model implied by the abovementioned considerations is shown in Fig. 1(below), which posits that internal marketing initiatives exert direct impacts onjob satisfaction and organizational commitment. Likewise for job characteristics(job autonomy, teamworking, and supervisory support) and negative experiences.


Fig. 1. The suggested model.

The personal characteristics of affect intensity, vulnerability to stress, and the in-dividual’s initial reasons for becoming a volunteer are posited to exert moderatinginfluences on the effects of the negative experiences variable on job satisfac-tion and organizational commitment. Following Ahmed et al. (2003), Bell et al.(2004), Galindo-Kuhn and Guzley (2001), Liden and Graen (1980), and Starnesand Wymer (2001), it is then hypothesized that satisfaction and commitment im-pact positively on the level of a volunteer’s commitment to providing a high-qualityservice to clients. Job satisfaction is assumed to be a cause of organizational com-mitment (cf., Ahmed et al., 2003; Caruana and Calleya, 1998; Dailey, 1986; Shoreand Wayne, 1993; Williamson, 1996). The negative experiences variable is positedto moderate downwards the (presumably positive) effect of internal marketing ini-tiatives on job satisfaction and organizational commitment. In other words, theapplication of internal marketing practices will not have as beneficial an impacton the satisfaction and commitment of a volunteer who is experiencing numerousnegative incidents as they will on someone who is not experiencing negative (andhence demotivating) incidents. Analogously, negative experiences are hypothe-sized to moderate downwards the allegedly beneficial influences of job autonomy,teamworking, and sound supervisory support on satisfaction and commitment.

THE INVESTIGATION

The study was conducted—over the period May–July 2004—in a nationalUK charity that offers face-to-face assistance to (adult) people experiencing a


variety of social problems, often connected with substance abuse and homeless-ness. As is the case with many large helping and caring charities, the organi-zation depends heavily on the services of several thousand volunteers. Thesevolunteers complete a wide range of duties; from fundraising to the face-to-faceprovision of beneficiary services. The current investigation only involved indi-viduals who were engaged in front-line beneficiary contact, not fundraisers orvolunteer workers in the charity’s retail outlets. About half the organization’svolunteers came into direct contact with beneficiaries. Contact volunteers of thistype received several half-days of formal training, followed by a planned ex-perience program under the direction of a mentor (who might be an employeeof the charity or a long-serving volunteer). Typical duties of the respondentsin the sample included giving lifts in motor vehicles, speaking with and com-forting beneficiaries on the phone, helping clients in their dealings with gov-ernment agencies and social services departments, offering “moral support” intimes of crisis and, under supervision, providing basic (nonclinical) counselingservices. The sample was restricted to volunteers who had received training andhad been on “active service” for at least six months. Hence all the respondentshad sufficient experience to be able to comment on the nature of their rela-tionships with the organization. On average, the sample volunteers had been inpost for 2.2 years (range 0.5–17 years). Attrition rates averaged 25–30% an-nually. Questionnaires were completed by 91 volunteers in five of the charity’sregional offices that agreed to participate in the investigation (which was backedby the organization’s national headquarters). This represented 64% of the peopleapproached.

An internal marketing program had been introduced by the charity 3.5 yearsprior to the month the study was undertaken in an attempt to reduce the rate ofvolunteer withdrawal. An audit of internal communications methods was com-pleted with the aim of improving organization-volunteer communications and,consequent to a government grant, training (organized via the adult educationdepartments of relevant local authorities) was given in interpersonal skills andbehavior. The charity also provided extensive information and training on orga-nizational policies and procedures, emergency situations (e.g., what to do if aclient is visited just after he or she has attempted suicide; police and hospitalemergency systems), job roles and responsibilities, and the mission and objectivesof the organization. Training sessions occurred during evenings and at weekends,involved experts in relevant fields, were interactive and participatory, and en-couraged participant feedback. Supervisors were instructed to acknowledge theimportance of volunteers, to provide them with opportunities to voice their opin-ions and to offer as much job autonomy as possible. “Support meetings” wereheld on a monthly basis. Volunteers’ contributions were recognized through “ap-preciation social events,” thank-you cards, and mentions in the organization’snewsletter.


IMPACT OF THE PROGRAM

It is important to note that (as is likely to occur with any management initia-tive directed towards an organization’s workers) although the internal marketingprogram was theoretically up and running, it would in reality have “reached” andbeen experienced by volunteers to varying levels. This phenomenon is known tobe common following the introduction of internal marketing activities. Varey andLewis (1999) for example observed how, for internal marketing to be successful,the “dominant management style” must support internal marketing and “the wholeorganization must practice internal marketing.” Sometimes, however, only a fewparts of the organization and a subset of its managers took internal marketingpolicies seriously. Hence these policies were implemented unevenly across theorganization. Varey (1995) similarly noted that not all managers recognized theirown roles in providing excellent support services to their workers. Internal mar-keting might be “officially” implemented by the management of an organization,but in practice be operationalized by just a minority of individuals and sections,and with differing levels of enthusiasm.

Equally, certain volunteers may themselves be indifferent and/or unrespon-sive to internal marketing initiatives. The application of internal marketing tovolunteers assumes that they want to be communicated with more extensively; tobe informed regularly and extensively about the charity’s mission and strategies;to receive overt recognition of their contributions, etc. This might not alwaysbe the case, and some volunteers may simply ignore an organization’s internalmarketing efforts. It follows that, for these additional reasons, internal market-ing activities may be noticed and experienced by different volunteers to dis-parate degrees. Thus, the impact of internal marketing initiatives on satisfactionand commitment can be expected to vary among individuals. Hence, althoughthe study occurred in a single organization operating a common set of inter-nal marketing policies, volunteers’ perceptions of the presence and efficacy ofthese policies would differ. Consequently, individual assessments of the qual-ity of the charity’s internal marketing activities would also vary. This meansthat the study explored the linkages between, on the one hand, the degree towhich a volunteer perceived that he or she had been affected by internal market-ing, and on the other, the person’s levels of job satisfaction and organizationalcommitment.

Consider, for instance, a single key element of an internal marketing program:two-way communications. The charity in question had actively sought to improveits volunteer communications and feedback mechanisms. Some volunteers wouldhave been greatly impressed with the charity’s efforts in this regard; others mightnot have cared less about this initiative. In effect, therefore, the investigationwas asking the question: “is a volunteer who perceives the charity as possessingexcellent two-way communications significantly more likely to have higher job


satisfaction and organizational commitment than a volunteer who does not holdthis conception?”

MEASUREMENT OF VARIABLES

Internal Marketing Initiatives

Respondents’ perceptions of the caliber of the charity’s internal marketingwere measured through 12 relevant items selected and adapted from Money andForeman’s (1996) 15-item internal marketing scale. (The three deleted items con-cerned financial reward systems within commercial organizations.) As the aim ofthe exercise was to assess a respondent’s awareness of the intensity of the char-ity’s internal marketing efforts, each item was preceded by the words “I believethat this charity. . . “ Examples of the 12 items were “communicates to volunteersthe importance of their service role;” “develops the skills and knowledge of itsvolunteers as an ongoing process;” and “communicates its vision very well to itsvolunteers.” Other examples of the items were whether the organization “placesconsiderable emphasis on communicating with volunteers;” “gathers data fromemployees to improve their jobs and to develop the strategy of the charity;” “triesto accommodate the differing needs of volunteers;” and “views the developmentof knowledge and skills in volunteers as an investment rather than a cost.”

The adaptation procedure applied followed the recommendations ofEngelland et al. (2001). Thus, candidate items were examined to ensure thatthey fell well within the scope of the domain of the relevant construct, that theyexpressed the theoretical construct in an effective manner, were worded at anappropriate level of abstraction and were compatible with the vocabulary of thetarget respondents, and were likely to generate outcomes similar to those of theoriginal studies from which the modified items were taken. Two senior academicsin the researcher’s home university independently assessed the adapted items interms of these criteria. They also inspected the items that had not been taken frompreexisting scales vis-a-vis their clarity, relevance to the particular issue beinginvestigated and to the population of interest, and their compatibility with theacademic literature in the area. This process was replicated when adapting all theother scales that had been borrowed from preexisting instruments.

Job Characteristics

The level of a volunteer’s job autonomy was assessed through adaptationsof the three items employed for this purpose by Bell et al. (2004). An exampleis “I can use my own personal judgment in carrying out my job.” Four items


modified from Hult et al. (1997) explored the extent of teamworking, e.g., “In thischarity, teamworking is the common way of working rather than the exception tothe norm.” Supervisory support was evaluated via a three-item scale adapted fromHouse (1981), e.g., “My supervisor is very concerned about the welfare of thevolunteers that he or she controls.”

Personal Characteristics

Affect intensity was measured through the ten leading items of the ques-tionnaire devised for this purpose by Larson (1984). Examples of the items are“My happy moods are so strong that I feel that I’m in heaven,” and “When I dofeel anxiety it is normally very strong.” Other examples are “I am often deeplytouched by the things I see happening to others,” “Sad events deeply touch me,”and “I am a deeply emotional person.” The extent to which a person’s reasonsfor having become a volunteer were egoistical rather than altruistic was assessedusing modifications of a five-item scale developed by Bennett and Kottasz (2000).This queried whether an individual’s major reasons for volunteering involved thefollowing practical egoistical benefits: training received, work experience, oppor-tunities for meeting new people and making new friends, improvement of personalself-image and self-esteem, and “improving one’s CV.”

A person’s vulnerability to stress was examined via modifications of Houseand Rizzo’s (1972) “job tension” inventory. Hence respondents were asked whether“problematic and emotionally difficult” situations tended to make them very anx-ious, worried, fidgety and nervous, unwell; to keep them awake at night; and tothink about these situations while doing other things.

Negative Experiences

Semistructured interviews were conducted with 15 first-line volunteers inthe charity hosting the investigation during which the interviewees were invitedto specify unpleasant incidents they had experienced in the course of their con-tacts with beneficiaries. Responses were tape recorded and coded in terms of thesimilarity of the characteristics of the incidents. The analyses were completed in-dependently by each of the researchers, followed by a re-examination of marginalcases and their allocation to appropriate groupings. Two distinct clusters of exam-ples emerged relating to (i) lack of respect (swearing, shouting at the volunteer,making remarks, and complaints about the volunteer behind the person’s back),and (ii) refusal to cooperate (abusively rejecting help the volunteer offers, notturning up for meetings, etc.). Accordingly, particular examples of negative expe-riences of these types were cited in the questionnaire and the respondent asked totick off a category indicating how many incidents of this or a related kind he or she


had suffered since becoming a first-line volunteer. The respondents were instructedonly to count those incidents that they had found to be personally unpleasant anddistressing. (This takes account of the possibility that the same incident might beviewed as deeply distressing by one person but not at all distressing by someoneelse.) The category the respondent selected was used as the negative experiencesvariable. It shows the extent of a person’s exposure to disagreeable events overtime. It is anticipated that a high number of such exposures (accumulated ei-ther over a protracted duration or more intensively during a short period) will benegatively associated with job satisfaction and organizational commitment.

The Outcome Variables

Organizational commitment (i.e., a person’s identification with, emotional at-tachment to, and involvement in an organization; see Caruana and Calleya, 1998)was measured using Mowday et al.’s (1979) nine-item Organizational Commit-ment Questionnaire. Examples of the items are “I talk up this organization to myfriends as a great organization to be involved with,” and “I would accept almost anytype of job assignment in order to keep working for this charity.” The degree of avolunteer’s job satisfaction was evaluated through Gidron’s (1983) instrument formeasuring this among service volunteers. Thus respondents were asked (5-pointscales) whether they found their jobs challenging, interesting, enjoyable, satisfy-ing, a source of personal fulfillment, and whether the job required responsibilityand utilized the person’s skills and knowledge. A volunteer’s level of commitmentto providing high-quality service to beneficiaries was assessed via adaptations ofsix items originally developed by Peccei and Rosenthal (1997). Examples of theitems are “No matter how I feel, I always put myself out for every client I serve,”and “I often make suggestions about how to improve the charity’s client service.”

The Questionnaire

The questionnaire began with some background items concerning the respon-dent’s age, gender, educational level, and length of service as a volunteer with thecharity. Although there is no evidence to suggest that age, gender, or educationalattainment exert significant influences on volunteer job satisfaction or commit-ment, these variables have been found to affect the types of activity for whichpeople volunteer (Bussell and Forbes, 2002) and thus were included on a purelyspeculative basis. Length of service was queried as a potential check on the con-vergent validity of the results, as it is known to relate significantly to volunteers’levels of commitment to an organization (Starnes and Wymer, 2001). A furtheritem was incorporated into the questionnaire to facilitate the assessment of con-vergent validity, i.e., the strength of a person’s intention to remain with the charity


in the foreseeable future. Prior research has concluded that this variable is signif-icantly associated with organizational commitment and job satisfaction (Dailey,1986; Fischer and Schaffer, 1993; Galindo-Kuhn and Guzley, 2001; Miller et al.,1990). Apart from the factual queries, all the questionnaire items were expressedas 5-point scales (5 = strongly agree; 1 = strongly disagree).

Consequent to discussions with three senior managers and four supervisors ofvolunteers in the charity hosting the investigation a questionnaire was drafted andpretested on nine of the organization’s volunteers who were attending a Saturdaymorning training session. This pretest facilitated the rewording of certain questionsto improve their clarity. The final version was distributed to 142 of the charity’svolunteers across five regional offices, resulting in 91 usable responses.

RESEARCH RESULTS

Fifty-eight percent of the volunteers in the sample were female. The samplemembers had an average age of 38 years and a relatively even spread of educationalbackgrounds. Sixty percent of the respondents reported having had between 4and 12 significantly upsetting negative experiences with clients. The overall meannumber of negative experiences cited was seven, although 15% of the sample statedthey had endured more than 20 negative incidents. Table I gives the Cronbach’salpha values for the multi-item constructs used in the analysis, the correlationsamong the variables and, for each multi-item construct, the percentage of totalvariation explained by the dominant factor emerging from a factor analysis of theitems. It can be seen from Table I that all the constructs were unidimensional, asanticipated a priori for these well-established and extensively validated inventories.Hence the items within each of the constructs were averaged to form compositemeasures. Table I shows a weak correlation (R = .17) between affect intensity andvulnerability to stress, indicating the existence of two quite different constructswhich may therefore be used as separate independent variables.

A volunteer’s reported intention to remain with the charity correlated pos-itively, significantly and substantially with job satisfaction (R = .46), organiza-tional commitment (R = .61), perceptions of the caliber of the organization’sinternal marketing (R = .36), and supervisory support (R = .46); and negativelyand substantially with the number of negative experiences (R = −.47). Volunteerswith high job satisfaction remained with the charity for longer periods (R = .4),as did individuals who were not particularly vulnerable to stress (R = −.42) andthose with high organizational commitment (R = .48). Predictably, longer serv-ing volunteers had experienced more negative incidents than people with shorterperiods of service. These outcomes are compatible with the results of previousresearch studies in relevant areas and thus imply that the overall model depictedin Fig. 1 is nomologically valid. A factor analysis of all the Table I variablesgenerated a first factor that explained 22% of the total variation in the data plus


Tabl

eI.

Cor

rela

tion

Mat

rixa

12

34

56

78

910

1112

13

1.In

tern

alm

arke

ting

0.93

2.Jo

bau

tono

my

0.19

0.86

3.Te

amw

orki

ng0.

200.

080.

834.

Supe

rvis

ory

supp

ort

0.22

0.21

0.12

0.90

5.N

egat

ive

expe

rien

ces

0.09

0.03

−0.1

2−0

.12

—6.

Aff

ecti

nten

sity

0.11

−0.0

60.

040.

10−0

.09

0.87

7.R

easo

nsfo

rvo

lunt

eeri

ng−0

.09

−0.1

00.

10−0

.13

−0.0

3−0

.20

0.81

8.V

ulne

rabi

lity

tost

ress

0.03

−0.0

7−0

.22

−0.2

40.

160.

170.

020.

929.

Job

satis

fact

ion

0.37

0.28

0.16

0.51

−0.5

40.

040.

26−0

.16

0.82

10.O

rgan

izat

iona

lcom

mitm

ent

0.45

0.12

0.09

0.43

−0.4

60.

260.

180.

040.

620.

8911

.Com

mitm

entt

opr

ovid

ing

0.49

0.07

0.22

0.50

−0.3

90.

010.

090.

020.

590.

520.

84hi

gh-q

ualit

ycl

ient

serv

ice

12.L

engt

hof

serv

ice

0.11

0.13

0.01

0.11

0.34

−0.0

2−0

.29

−0.4

20.

400.

480.

39—

13.I

nten

tion

tore

mai

nw

ithth

ech

arity

0.36

0.25

−0.0

40.

46−0

.47

−0.0

90.

19−0

.15

0.46

0.61

0.34

0.44

—V

aria

tion

expl

aine

dby

first

fact

orb

(%)

7181

8073

—67

7477

6969

70—

—

aC

ronb

ach’

sal

pha

valu

esar

esh

own

inth

ele

adin

gdi

agon

al.

bT

his

refe

rsto

the

tota

lvar

iatio

nex

plai

ned

byth

efir

stfa

ctor

extr

acte

dfr

omth

ere

leva

ntse

tof

item

s.


eight further factors with eigenvalues greater than unity, indicating that commonmethod bias did not characterize the responses.

A majority of the sample volunteers (54%) replied in the top two (agree/strongly agree) categories of the composite concerning perceptions of the calibreof the charity’s internal marketing. Most of the sample gave responses in the toptwo categories for job satisfaction (62%), organizational commitment (64%), andcommitment to the provision of high-quality client services (67%). As a numberof the variables in the model were not normally distributed and because the samplesize was modest relative to the number of variables involved (11 main variablesplus 14 moderators), the relationships hypothesized in Fig. 1 were estimatedusing the technique of partial least squares (Chin, 2001). Initially all 25 variableswere entered and statistically insignificant relationships (p > .05) identified. Theneach insignificant variable was removed in a stepwise manner, but reinstated if theexclusion of one or more of the other insignificant variables caused the variablein question to attain significance. Variables were finally deleted if they remainedinsignificant at the 0.05 level irrespective of the configuration of the other variablesappearing in the model. The results are listed in Table II. Parameter estimates andassociated standard errors were computed using the bootstrapping facility availableon the PLS Graph 3 package. The moderators were mean-centered to minimizetechnical difficulties arising from multicollinearity among the regressors. (To testfor multicollinearity the regressions listed in Table II were run separately on SPSS12 and the variance inflation factor calculated for each coefficient. The figuresranged between 1.4 and 4.2, suggesting that multicollinearity did not represent amajor problem.)

Table II. Parameter Estimates

Standardizedcoefficient T-value

Commitment to providing high-quality serviceJob satisfaction 0.49 4.41Commitment to the organization 0.38 4.02

Commitment to the organizationJob satisfaction 0.21 2.87Negative experiences (NE) −0.22 3.06Internal marketing (IM) 0.29 3.99(IM) × (NE) −0.18 2.63(NE) × (Reasons for volunteering) 0.17 2.04(NE) × (Affect intensity) 0.23 3.22

Job satisfactionInternal marketing 0.24 3.33Negative experiences (NE) −0.37 5.92Supervisory support (SS) 0.41 4.43(IM) × (NE) −0.20 3.01(SS) × (NE) 0.26 2.98(NE) × (Affect intensity) 0.17 1.99(NE) × (Reasons for volunteering) 0.17 2.06(NE) × (Vulnerability to stress) 0.25 3.11


It can be seen from Table II that, as predicted, a volunteer’s commitmentto providing high-quality service depended significantly on his or her job satis-faction and organizational commitment. However, an individual’s organizationalcommitment did not appear to be influenced by any of the three hypothesized jobcharacteristics of autonomy, teamworking, or supervisory support. Commitmentto the organization seemingly arose from considerations unrelated to the ways inwhich a person performed his or her particular duties. The organization’s internalmarketing had a significant impact on organizational commitment, presumablythrough communication activities that focused on informing the volunteer aboutthe charity’s mission, current objectives, successes achieved, recent developments,etc. Job satisfaction was significantly associated with organizational commitment,confirming the findings of previous research. Commitment to the organization waslower among people who reported large numbers of negative experiences. Table IIalso indicates that the impact of internal marketing on commitment was moder-ated downwards by the negative experiences variable. In other words, the charity’sinternal marketing efforts were less successful in enhancing organizational com-mitment among volunteers who had experienced numerous negative incidents inthe course of their dealings with beneficiaries. Moreover, the downward influenceof the negative experiences variable on organizational commitment was higher for(i) people whose motivations for volunteering were heavily egoistic, and (ii) highaffect intensity individuals. Volunteers who felt their emotions very intensivelywere “put off” by negative incidents to a greater extent than others.

Job satisfaction was significantly higher among volunteers who recognizedthe quality of the organization’s internal marketing initiatives, and lower amongindividuals who reported having endured numerous negative experiences. Onlyone of the hypothesized job characteristics significantly influenced job satisfac-tion, namely supervisory support. This relationship was moderated upwards bythe negative experiences variable, i.e., sound supervisory support was even moreimportant for the improvement of job satisfaction among volunteers who reportednumerous negative incidents, and who presumably would have looked to their su-pervisors for assistance. Negative experiences moderated downwards the impactof internal marketing on job satisfaction. The effects of large numbers of negativeexperiences were particularly severe among high affect intensity individuals, peo-ple whose reasons for having volunteered were mainly egoistical, and volunteerswho were especially vulnerable to stress.

CONCLUSION AND MANAGERIAL IMPLICATIONS

This study examined interactions between negative experiences and a char-ity’s internal marketing initiatives in relation to their impact of a volunteer’s jobsatisfaction and commitment to the organization. Two important findings emerged


from the investigation. First, the outcomes furnished support for the existenceof a positive and significant connection between the introduction of an internalmarketing program and subsequent improvements in volunteers’ satisfaction andcommitment. Internal marketing activities did indeed have a beneficial influenceon the attitudes of those volunteers who were aware of and took notice of them.It follows that the organization’s decision to invest in internal marketing appearsto have been worthwhile. This implies the need for the charity concerned to en-sure that its internal marketing initiatives “reach” all, and not just some, of itsvoluntary workers. In other words it would be valuable to have a separate in-ternal promotional campaign to spread knowledge about organization’s internalmarketing program!

Second, the investigation confirmed that the greater the number of negativeincidents that volunteers endured then, on average, the lower their job satisfactionand organizational commitment. Moreover, internal marketing initiatives exertedsubstantially lower influence on the job satisfaction and commitment of volun-teers who had undergone many negative experiences. This suggests that internalmarketing activities need to be supplemented by additional measures designed tomitigate the diluting effect of negative experiences. Accordingly, the problem ofthe demotivation caused by negative experiences should be explicitly recognizedso that the organization can take specific measures to prepare volunteers for neg-ative incidents and then help them deal with their emotional consequences. Theissue should figure prominently in volunteer training and mentoring programmes,and duties that are especially prone to generating negative experiences shouldbe time limited. Volunteers could be rotated between jobs that are likely and un-likely to involve numerous negative incidents. Detailed records of each volunteer’snegative experiences should be maintained and monitored.

Consistent with expectations, supervisory support had a positive and signif-icant impact on job satisfaction. Additionally, supervisory support assuaged thedetrimental influence on job satisfaction exerted by negative experiences. Thisoutcome confirms the strong and beneficial role of the (frequently social) supportoffered to a volunteer by his or her immediate supervisor, and underscores thedesirability of substantive supervisory training. Supervisory support was the onlyjob characteristic to affect job satisfaction: autonomy and teamworking failed toattain significance. However, examination of the data revealed that large majoritiesof the responses for the last two variables (more than three quarters in each case)fell in the top-two (agree/strongly agree) categories, so that the insignificanceof teamworking and autonomy may have been mainly due to lack of variationin the data. Discussions with managers and supervisors within the charity afterthe study had been completed suggested that this might well have been the case.Teamworking and autonomy, these managers and supervisors insisted, were thenorm within the organization. Often it was the volunteers themselves who “set theagenda” regarding the ways in which clients would be contacted and serviced.


Interactions with beneficiaries necessarily involved the exercise of personal dis-cretion and much subsequent discussion at team briefings and meetings. Moreresearch is needed into this matter.

A typical volunteer’s commitment to the charity was not at all affected byany of the three job characteristics. Thus, commitment to the charity; its mission,ideals, and activities could be extremely high even if the working methods andenvironment associated with the volunteer’s particular job were not entirely to theperson’s liking. Conversely, two personal characteristics (affect intensity and theindividual’s reasons for having become a volunteer) had significant moderatingeffects on the link between negative experiences and organizational commitment.People high in affect intensity were more likely than others to lose commitmentin the wake of a series of negative incidents, implying that highly emotional in-dividuals who experience their feelings very intensively are not necessarily thebest people to recruit as volunteers for potentially emotionally upsetting duties.This consideration should be taken into account when screening volunteer appli-cants. The realities of some of the disagreeable events that a volunteer is liable toencounter, and their possible psychological consequences, must be explained care-fully at the beginning of the vetting process. Likewise, persons who volunteeredmainly for practical egoistic reasons lost their commitment to the organizationas negative experiences accumulated. To the extent that a charity has a choiceof applicants to select as volunteer workers, excessive egoistic motivation in anapplicant might indicate a person who should be avoided. Affect intensity andegoistic reasons for volunteering had the same moderating influence on the linkbetween negative experiences and job satisfaction as occurred in relation to com-mitment to the organization, with comparable implications. Vulnerability to stressalso moderated this connection, suggesting the need to train volunteers in thetechniques of stress management. Critically, people who were highly resistant tostress remained with the organization for longer periods.

Overall the results imply the need to match volunteers to beneficiary ser-vice roles in terms of a person’s emotionality, vulnerability to stress, and coremotivation for becoming a volunteer in the first instance. These variables interactwith the impact of negative incidents to help determine job satisfaction, whichin turn contributes significantly to the desire to provide excellent client service.It would be useful to investigate in greater depth the roles of affect intensity andstress proneness in the volunteering context. For instance, are “Type A” individu-als (who find it difficult to relax) likely to perform stressful client contact dutiesin ways that are different to “Type B” people (who allegedly possess more stabledemeanors but are somewhat casual in their manner)? A study of the interactionsof volunteers’ personal values with some of the variables covered by the presentstudy would also be interesting. The investigation explored the impact of negativeexperiences on volunteer behavior. Further research into the effects of positiveincidents would be valuable. In particular, it would be useful to establish whether


the consequences of positive experiences are the mirror image of the effects ofnegative experiences. Might it be the case that the consequences are asymmet-rical, e.g., that negative client contact incidents are debilitating whereas positiveexperiences (which volunteers expect as a matter of course) have little impact onmotivation?

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