Types of personality orientation towards volunteering

Background. The rise of volunteer movements in Russia and abroad and the associated development of psychological studies of specific altruistic activities make relevant a comprehensive study of this psychological phenomenon and its essence, including typological differences. Aims: the purpose of this paper is to identify the different types of personality orientations toward volunteer activities. Materials and methods. A cross-sectional study involved 492 volunteers aged 18 to 62 years. All participants took part in different volunteer projects and had different volunteer experiences. The study was carried out using a battery of psychodiagnostic methods selected with respect to the structure of volunteering: the assessment of social and psychological attitudes (O. Potemkina), the Edwards personal preference schedule (A. Edwards), the “System of Life Meanings” method (V. Kotlyakov), the Bass orientation inventory (B. Bass), the ratio between value and accessibility in various spheres of life method (E. Fantalova), as well as the author’s questionnaire for identifying motives for volunteering, the expectations of volunteers, and their assessment of different aspects of volunteering. The data obtained were processed with factorial (principal component analysis, Kaiser criterion) and cluster (K-means analysis) analyses. Results. Four main types of personality orientation towards volunteering have been identified: personality-oriented, object-oriented, public-oriented, and professionally-oriented. Differences were found between volunteers of different ages and with different volunteer experiences in terms of the intensity of their orientation to volunteering. Conclusion. The results of the study show the need for special programs for the psychological support of volunteers, which will be focused on the formation of constructive types of personality orientation towards volunteering.