Predicting the commitment of volunteers' environmental stewardship: Does generativity play a role?

Abstract

This study examined factors that contribute to the commitment of volunteers' environmental stewardship through motivations, satisfaction, and generativity. Generativity, a focus on the next generation, has not been examined in the content of environmental stewardship. Volunteers for the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department (TPWD) were surveyed online from May to September of 2016 (n = 1111). Through structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis, our findings validated six categories of motivations (helping the environment, project organization, values, learning, career, and social), four dimensions of satisfaction (organizational support, project organization, sense of empowerment, and group integration), and two factors of commitment (affective commitment and normative commitment). Our findings showed positive and significant path correlations for four latent variables (motivations, satisfaction, commitment, and generativity). This study contributes to the literature by showing the potential for generativity to contribute to environmental stewardship, and by enhancing stewardship efforts for agencies and organizations in recruiting and engaging volunteers.