Whereas most previous research on organizational assimilation has examined the process of employees joining, becoming a part of, or leaving organizations as part of their careers, this study examines the assimilation process of volunteer members of a community choir. Results indicate that many of the same concepts apply to both employees and volunteers during anticipatory socialization, encounter, metamorphosis, and exit. However, volunteer experiences are different from employee experiences in a number of important areas throughout the process, especially regarding exit. These findings have implications for other volunteer organizations and for assimilation research in general.

Because most socialization/assimilation research focuses on employment as the primary membership role in groups and organizations, the accompanying models have failed to consider the unique characteristics of voluntary membership. In addition, those models have been criticized for being too linear and based on concepts of organizations as containers. Using principles of the bona fide group perspective and a case study, this paper develops a model that emphasizes the unique characteristics of the socialization of voluntary members. The multilevel model also examines how membership in various other groups, such as work and family, influence and interact with individuals’ voluntary memberships. With a focus on communication, the model emphasizes the fluid process of voluntary associations in organizations with ambiguous boundaries.

Approximately 25% of Americans volunteer annually (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2011). As organizational members, they face uncertainty concerning their roles, their relationships, and their organizations (Kramer, 2004). Volunteers likely face different uncertainty management issues than employees who have been the focus of most previous research. Volunteers have a different psychological contract and different motivations than employees (Rousseau, 1990). This study examined issues of uncertainty management of volunteer members in a particular setting, a community choir. In particular, it found that supervisor and peer communication and other internal factors, such as more preparation time and less difficult tasks, were associated with higher levels of certainty for members of a community choir. In addition, higher levels of certainty and additional external factors such as family support for participation and lack of conflicts were associated with higher levels of satisfaction and identification and a greater willingness to recruit for the organization. Results have implications for improving communication to increase volunteers' certainty and increasing their voluntary participation in organizations.

This organizational life history documents how the founder of an elite gymnastics training organization led her organizational members to resist what she deemed to be unethical institutional influences prior to working toward changing those institutional practices. The study contributes the idea that institutional resistance leadership at the team and organizational levels can precede disruptive institutional entrepreneurship activities at the institutional level. The diachronic analysis describes the micro, local, historical, intra-organizational work that serves as a proving ground for generating resistance before proceeding to institutional level work; in doing so, the article explores how leadership activities can be ‘scaled up’ to affect institutions through the intermediary of an organization. Identity violations triggered a founder’s sensemaking and moved her to lead others to resist institutional forces on her own organization’s training practices. The founder used the rhetorical strategy of narrative to create sensebreaking to help members make sense of the dominant institutional influence, articulate an alternative philosophy, translate the alternative into practices, and acquire material resources for undertaking resistance at the local organizational level. Finally, in attempting to scale up to institutional entrepreneurship, the institutional resistance leadership then struggled with defining success for the organization in the view of dominant institutional actors.

Single-event volunteering, one form of episodic volunteering, is increasingly common. To gain a deeper understanding of this phenomenon, this study used self-determination theory to explore the motivations and communication experiences of volunteers for a 1-day volunteer event. Data were collected from 294 volunteers on a questionnaire containing open-ended questions (qualitative) and scaled items (quantitative). Results from the analysis indicated increased feelings of autonomy, competence, relatedness, and purpose, along with reduced feelings of pressure to participate, were associated with increased motivation to volunteer during the recruitment process. Higher levels of motivation, along with positive communication with leaders and peers, resulted in higher levels of satisfaction and likelihood of volunteering again. These results provide evidence for expanding SDT to develop a model of volunteering that includes additional motivations and communication, and provide practical advice for leaders of volunteers.

This study explored the process by which volunteers learned and developed their roles as part of their initial organizational entrance and then re-developed them during ongoing assimilation in response to an organizational change. Based on interviews of 41 zoo docents, this study analyzes the process by which they initially learned and developed their roles as new volunteers through the interaction of the socialization efforts of the organization and their own attempts at individualization. Then the study explores how those role expectations were modified as docents were re-socialized after changes occurred in the zoo and how those changes impacted their attitudes and further role development. The results have theoretical implications and practical applications for individuals working with volunteers.