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Understanding the trajectory of employee volunteerism : an exploratory case study in the Omani public sector

Al-Hadhrami, Mouza M. S.

Authors

Mouza M. S. Al-Hadhrami



Contributors

Maria Kapsali
Supervisor

Abstract

The study explored volunteerism in the context of the public sector in Oman where it took the Library for Community Initiative (L4CI) as a primary case unit of study. This study employs single case study strategies that facilitate the exploration of this EV project which presents a unique situation where it is officially located within a public institution (government-owned university) but funded by a private sector company. Applying a systemic lense, the voluntary project in this study found to act as an independent system that succeeded to bring together both sectors in a long-term partnership.
The literature review conducted showed that employee volunteerism (EV) in the context of the corporate struggles to keep the core principles of volunteerism valid. Interventions from employers have been criticised in many studies for steering and capitalising the EV programs to satisfy the best interest of the enterprises. Previous studies failed to explore the systemic factors contributing to the construction of the EV programs and their impact on the existing structure and agency. To examine this notion further, this study was created to explore “volunteerism” within employee volunteering programs and the factors that contribute to the development of the EV system’s practices and functions that support the basic principles of volunteerism. It explored how participants perceived the L4CI project from the perspective of ‘volunteerism’ principles and benefits sought. The application of systemic thinking ’s concepts and tools provided a holistic view of the EV as an interconnected system and enabled the exploration of its components to establish relationships between them. Systemic thinking provided a lens proved influential in developing a holistic view of the EV system by acknowledging its independent and explore factors that allowed participants to pursue a certain level of the agency when constructing its organisational and operational structures.
Chapter one overviewed the problem and the significance of the selected unit of the case study. The significance of the case study stands on its uniqueness for being a long-term EV program, initiated by employee (bottom-up) and situated in a public organisation. The chapter introduced the volunteerism movement in Oman before it offered a factual brief of the L4CI. Moving to chapter two, the discussion focused on focused on specifying main gaps within the literature of employee volunteerism and how the study is using systems thinking concepts and tools to explore them.
Within the theoretical realm, the study adopts an interpretive soft systems lens on outlining the basis for choosing interpretive paradigms from a subjective view. In chapter three, justifications that support a qualitative inquiry through semi-structured interviews and the rationale behind adopting content and thematic analyses to achieve the aim of this study are discussed and explained. Fieldwork was detailed to describe the data collection process and elaborate on the data analysis procedures applied throughout the study. Chapter five was dedicated to demonstrating the process and results of the data analysis using various tools and software.
The finding of the study suggests that volunteerism in the context of corporates can be achieved when employers and employees agree to keep its principles untouched. The L4CI found to exemplify a way-out when its examined system structured proved to respect volunteerism’ criteria including free-will, unpaid, personal and offering benefit to other parties. Factors influencing the formation of the EV project in this case study found to be temporal and event-based. The holistic view revealed various factors arising from multiple levels of investigations. These levels included external, institutional and EV group level.
The conclusion of this study discussed how these findings contribute to our understanding of the EV systems by answering the main questions and satisfying objectives listed. The findings suggest the need to understand the spiritual principles of volunteerism before companies can design their EV programs. The findings also suggest that the formation of the EV project in this case study was influenced by temporal and event-base factors. By developing a holistic picture, multiple factors from external, institutional, and EV group levels were pronounced to play a varied role in the formation of the identity, operational structure, and organisational structure of the EV system. The study concluded with recommendations and specified further areas for studies.

Citation

Al-Hadhrami, M. M. S. (2019). Understanding the trajectory of employee volunteerism : an exploratory case study in the Omani public sector. (Thesis). University of Hull. Retrieved from https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/4224140

Thesis Type Thesis
Deposit Date May 17, 2022
Publicly Available Date Mar 29, 2024
Keywords Business
Public URL https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/4224140
Additional Information Business School, The University of Hull
Award Date Mar 1, 2019

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Copyright Statement
© 2019 Al-Hadhrami, Mouza M. S. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced without the written permission of the copyright holder.





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