Results

In the pretest potion of the study, 32 survey responses were received: 17 were incomplete
and one response consented to the survey but was excluded (the respondent indicated they were
not a member of the MFR unit) leaving 14 responses to populate the sample. In the posttest
portion of the study, 14 survey responses were received: 4 were incomplete and none of the
remaining 10 responses were excluded. Due to the design and technical implementation of the
study, incomplete responses are considered to represent a study participant who has chosen to
withdraw from the study.
Vigor

Dedication

Pretest (N=14)
Mean
3.7380
4.7142
SD
1.3357
1.0961
SE
0.3569
0.2929
Posttest (N=10)
Mean
4.6666
5.1
SD
1.2741
0.9140
SE
0.4029
0.2890
Table 1: Summary of UWES-9 survey results

Absorption

Total Score

4.0476
1.2307
0.3289

4.1666
1.2208
0.3262

4.8333
1.1076
0.3502

4.8666
1.0986
0.3474

The posttest revealed an increase in positive responses to all statements being assessed.
Overall engagement increased from an average score of 4.17 to 4.87 (p=0.005), reflected in an
increase of respondents indicating positive responses (often, very often and always) to 82% of
statements in the posttest over 64% in the pretest survey. The statement V3, When I wake up in
the morning I feel like volunteering revealed the largest increase in positive responses (3.73
pretest vs. 4.67 posttest), which is attributed with reflecting vigor. This change represents an
increase from 29% positive response (often, very often and always) to 80%. There was a
statistically significant increase of always responses by 11% in the vigor statements assessed
by the UWES (p=0.001) (B. Goodman, personal communication, March 19, 2015).

Analysis of the data is not limited to the results of this study alone. Comparison can also
be made with normative data collected in an international database of 9,679 responses to the
UWES-9:
Vigor
Dedication
Absorption
Very low
2.00
1.33
1.17
Low
2.01 3.25
1.34 2.90
1.18 2.33
Average
3.26 4.80
2.91 4.70
2.34 4.20
High
4.81 5.65
4.71 5.69
4.21 5.33
Very High
5.66
5.70
5.34
Mean
4.01
3.88
3.35
SD
1.13
1.38
1.32
SE
0.01
0.01
0.01
Table 2: Normative data, N=9,679 (Schaufeli & Bakker, 2004, p. 40)

Total Score
1.77
1.78 2.88
2.89 4.66
4.67 5.50
5.51
3.74
1.17
0.01

Despite little change in the study data from pretest to posttest in statements assessing
dedication (4.71 and 5.1, respectively), both are significantly higher than normative data (3.88).
Two of the three statements devoted to dedication (D1 and D2) achieved 100% positive
responses (often, very often or always) in the posttest period. The remaining dedication
statement (D3) saw a rise in positive responses from 56% to 71%, but a decrease in the number
of always responses from 36% to 20%. Additionally, the mean of posttest absorption scores
within the study population (4.83) also falls within the high range when placed in relation to
normative data (4.21 5.33).
Discussion
The consistently high scores achieved for dedication were anticipated as reflecting the
volunteer context in which the work is being addressed. As discussed in the self-determination
theory, volunteers have chosen to participate in this work context and hold the right to right to
leave it if they wish. Put simply, it is expected that a group of people giving their time freely to
an organization would be dedicated to the work they perform within that organization. Since
dedication is largely related to self-motivation, it was anticipated that organizational changes

would not significantly increase volunteer dedication. The volunteers bring their own
motivations for contributing to the organization. This is reflected as a shortcoming in some of
the previous research into volunteer engagement that sought to understand what the organization
could do to influence the dedication of its volunteers.
The increase in vigor and absorption scores remain tied to self-motivation theory but are
more reflective of the experience of volunteering. A volunteer could be highly dedicated but
show little vigor or not be absorbed in their volunteer tasks. Conversely, a volunteer who is
vigorous and absorbed is likely dedicated, although all three of these dimensions of engagement
are complexly interwoven. The significant increase in vigor and absorption scores, both of
which placed the sample into higher than average scores compared to normative data in the
posttest, suggests that the implementation of the eLearning platform improved volunteer
engagement by improving the experience of volunteering.
The Diffusion of Innovations model can be applied here to better understand the adoption
of the eLearning platform by the MFR unit. The platform itself was the innovation being
communicated, championed by volunteers who developed the site and content within it. The
champions of the eLearning platform hold positions of authority within the organization over
those who use the system as well as opinion leadership derived from subject matter expertise. It
is not surprising that a group of volunteers within an organization with a paramilitary style of
leadership would engage in using a platform recommended by their leaders. Those leaders
communicated the intent of the eLearning platform to the volunteers, stressing its relative
advantage over the current system: volunteers can achieve training credit for missed meetings at
their convenience. The volunteers engaged in a short familiarization training session at the

implementation of the system, improving the trainability and reducing the complexity of
accessing the eLearning platform.
Limitations
The study suffered from limited statistical analysis due to the small sample size achieved
in pretest and posttest period. There were time limitations placed on the analysis of the data
which precluded non-parametric testing of the data which may have helped overcome this
difficulty and further data analysis with these techniques may yield more significant results.
Additionally, the study itself suffered from several design flaws. A control group was not used,
although normative data from the survey is available to use. Because of the high level of
anonymity afforded to study participants, completed surveys were not paired between data
collection periods. Control groups who could achieve the same benefit of making up for lost
training time at home, but perhaps with a non-digital solution could increase the reliability that
the increase in engagement seen within the sample group was due to the digital nature of the
eLearning platform.
It can be argued that the results of the survey are artificially inflated, as volunteers who
are not engaged in their work could be unlikely to volunteer to participate in a study. Similarly,
while the posttest scores would suggest increased engagement over the timeframe in which the
eLearning platform was active, it also saw four fewer completed responses despite no loss of
membership within the volunteer unit. This is slightly offset by the fact that the pretest period
enjoyed an additional week of access for participants to complete the study that was not possible
in the posttest period. Without more data regarding the incomplete responses, it is unknown if
the larger number of incomplete responses in the pretest period were due to technical difficulty

that was resolved by a future attempt at competing the survey or whether participants progressed
to the page where the survey was collected and decided to withdraw after reading the statements.
Conclusion
The purpose of this study was to analyze the effect that implementing the eLearning
platform had on the experience of volunteering through measurement of volunteer engagement.
The data collected in the posttest period for volunteer who had experienced the eLearning
platform reveale that they felt more engaged after this experience, particularly reflected by
increases in vigor. Improving volunteer engagement creates a better experience for the volunteer
and enhances the organizations ability to recruit and retain members. Because the volunteers
who completed the survey feel more vigorous in their engagement within the volunteer
organization, it is hoped that they will be reflected in real-world improvement in quantity and
quality of volunteerism by these individuals. This study could serve as the basis of future
research into the effect that eLearning has on the experience of volunteering. Even within the
population that was studied, it would be worth knowing how much time the volunteers actually
spent using the online eLearning platform, whether there was a change in their didactic or
practical skills, and what the volunteers own thoughts and reflections on the experience would
reveal.
By shifting the focus away from the effectiveness of eLearning to the results of the
experience that the end user has of the system, this study has addressed a different method of
evaluating the online learning experience. Simply offering volunteers the opportunity to
complete their learning tasks whenever and wherever they like has a positive impact on their
engagement within that organization.

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