Date
5-1-2025
Department
School of Behavioral Sciences
Degree
Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology (PhD)
Chair
Amy McDonald Stevens
Keywords
religious nonprofit, self-determination theory, SDT, organismic integration theory, OIT, church volunteer, volunteer engagement, time giving, financial giving, internalization, integration, religious motivation, perceptions of fairness, organizational justice, meaningfulness, self-regulation, autonomy
Disciplines
Psychology
Recommended Citation
Johnson, Billy J., "From Volunteer to Member of the Church Body: How Meaningfulness, Self-Regulation, and Fairness Relate to Giving of Time and Treasure" (2025). Doctoral Dissertations and Projects. 6896.
https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/doctoral/6896
Abstract
Churches rely almost exclusively on volunteers and committed members to fulfill their mission. With decreasing engagement and financial support among churchgoers, there is a need to understand what motivates volunteers to give their time and resources. This nonexperimental quantitative correlational study examined the relationships between church volunteers’ self-regulation, perceptions of meaningfulness, and fairness, with their reported level of internalization of the local church’s mission, evidenced by their giving behaviors. Utilizing data collected from 86 church volunteers on self-report measures, all validated from previous research and adapted to church context, correlational analyses showed no significant relationship between giving of time and meaningfulness (r = 0.038, p = 0.731), fairness (r = 0.044, p = 0.684), and self-regulation (r = -0.010, p = 0.925). Similarly, meaningfulness (r = 0.026, p = 0.814), fairness (r = 0.004, p = 0.971), and self-regulation (r = 0.009, p = 0.936) were not significantly related to giving of finances. Integrated internalization significantly predicted giving of time (β = 0.145, p = 0.004). Post hoc analyses revealed significant correlations between internalization and meaningfulness (r = 0.355, p < 0.001), fairness (r = 0.370, p < 0.001), and self-regulation (r = 0.404, p < 0.001). Ordinal regression analysis showed that volunteer perceptions significantly predicted internalization (χ²(3) = 13.56, p < .001), accounting for 27.5% of the variance (R² = .275, Nagelkerke). These findings suggest that volunteer motivation and engagement in local church contexts can be influenced by intentional program design, impacting eternity for the local community.
