Extrinsic Motivation and Perceived Benefits of Environmental Volunteering: Perspectives from Students

Abstract

Environmental volunteering has proven to be a valuable tool for environmental conservation and students’ self-development. However, to maximise the benefits of environmental volunteering programs, stakeholders should understand the factors that motivate school or university students to participate in environmental volunteering. In addition, the perceived benefits gained, from the students’ perspectives, will help to sustain and retain the level of volunteering among students. Therefore, this study examined the extrinsic motivation and benefits of environmental volunteering participation from the students’ perspectives. There are three (3) subconstructs for extrinsic motivation: social influences, fulfilling school or university requirements and cultures. Meanwhile, the benefits have four (4) subconstructs: positive emotion, meaningfulness, relationship and achievements. Random sampling was used and a survey was conducted among 356 students who had experience of environmental volunteering (aged 15 - 30 years old). Descriptive analysis was employed to analyze the level of extrinsic motivation and perceived benefits of environmental volunteering. Meanwhile, the t-test was employed to analyze the differences in levels of extrinsic motivation and perceived benefits based on gender. The results indicate that extrinsic motivation and perceived benefits were at a high level. However, there was no significant difference in terms of extrinsic motivation and perceived benefits based on gender. This study used students’ perspectives to highlight the role played by extrinsic motivation and environmental volunteering benefits in retaining participation in environmental volunteering. In addition, this study could help to strengthen environmental education through students’ environmental volunteering to achieve sustainable development goals.