Student volunteering - gender differences

Purpose – A high unemployment rate of young highly-educated people as a consequence of economic crisis is one of the main problems the Croatian economy is facing today. In order to increase their future competitiveness on the labour market, students are encouraged to involve themselves in different types of volunteering activities. The purpose of this paper is to determine if there are differences in attitudes towards volunteering between male and female students. These differences should be used as a base for promotion of volunteering in a way to specifically handle the observed gender divergences. Design – In order to determine the differences this paper explores students’ attitudes and their assessments of the impact that volunteering has on their personal development, transferrable skills, academic life and future career prospects. Methodology/Approach – For this purpose, during the academic year 2012/2013, the research was performed using a questionnaire on the population of 1,000 full-time students of the Faculty of Tourism and Hospitality Management in Opatija (FTHM). To achieve the survey’s goals, descriptive statistical analysis was performed. Findings – Gender differences are observable in all explored aspects. Women view the effects of their own volunteering more in the sphere of the broader community and tend to act more out of altruistic motives, which not necessarily related to improving their own level of competitiveness. Male students assess the positive effects of volunteering on their transferrable skills and especially on employability much higher than their female colleagues Originality – The potential of volunteering, as a type of experiential learning is not sufficiently exploited for the purpose of increasing the competitiveness of students on the labour market. This paper provides insights into the attitude differences towards volunteering between female and male students. These observed differences are a solid foundation for differentiated approach to promotion of volunteering in student population.