Membership matters: Why members engage with professional associations

Yuan WANG, Eyun-Jung KI

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlespeer-review

15 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Professional associations face the challenge of member engagement. This study examined the effects of members’ need fulfillment and perceived organizational support on their attitude toward the professional association and engagement with the association with a survey of 13,229 members from 18 associations. More specifically, this analysis focused on members’ perceptions of need fulfillment and organizational support as motivations of member engagement. Our results suggested that member perception of need fulfillment and organizational support positively influenced their attitude toward their association, which was positively related to their engagement with the association in volunteering and donating funds. In addition, members’ perceived support from the association was found to motivate their engagement with the association. Moreover, we identified gaps in members’ volunteering behavior between junior and senior members: career status significantly moderated the relationship between attitude toward and volunteering for the association, with junior members showing a stronger effect. The theoretical and practical implications of this study were discussed. Copyright © 2018 International Society for Third-Sector Research and The Johns Hopkins University.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)71-82
JournalVoluntas
Volume29
Early online dateMay 2017
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Feb 2018

Citation

Wang, Y., & Ki, E.-J. (2018). Membership matters: Why members engage with professional associations. Voluntas, 29, 71-82. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11266-017-9873-x

Keywords

  • Need fulfillment
  • Perceived organizational support
  • Member engagement
  • Volunteering
  • Donation
  • Professional association

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