Ram Cnaan, MSW, PhD

Professor
Associate Dean for Research
Chair, Doctoral Program in Social Welfare

Bio | Research | Link to Scholarly Papers | Curriculum Vitae (pdf)

Research

Public Perception Of "Who Is A Volunteer": An Examination Of The Net-Cost Approach From A Cross-Cultural Perspective

Description: This research compares the public perception of volunteering from a cross-cultural perspective. It identifies the history and linguistic meaning of volunteering in several countries. A 50-item instrument based on previous work by McCurley and Vesuvio (1985) and Cnaan, Handy, and Wadsworth (1996) is being administered to test the concept of net cost as the key factor behind public perception of who is a volunteer. In each region/country over 500 individuals will be surveyed in order to obtain a large enough sample size to draw conclusions.

Project Sponsors: Independently conducted

Dates: 1998-current

Project Staff:
Ram A. Cnaan (cnaan@sp2.upenn.edu)
Ugo Ascoli, University of Ancona, Italy
Jeffrey L. Brudney, University of Georgia
Femida Handy, York University
Lucas C. P. M. Meijs, Erasmus University, Netherlands
Shree Ranade, Marketing & Market Research Consultants, Puna, India

Research Sites:
Canada, India, Italy, the Netherlands, and the Southeast and Northeast regions of the United States

Project Related Publications:

Cnaan, R. A., Handy, F., & Wadsworth, M. Defining who is a volunteer: Conceptual and empirical considerations, Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 1996, 25 (3), 364-383.

Cnaan, R. A., & Amrofell, L. M. Mapping volunteer activity. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 1995, 23 (4), 335-351.

Cnaan, R. A., & Metzendorf, D. Student volunteering: Should it be required in undergraduate introduction to social work courses? The Journal of Volunteer Administration, 1994, XIII (1), 1-11.

Cnaan, R. A., & Perlmutter, F. D. Challenging human service organizations to redefine volunteer roles. Administration in Social Work, 1993, 17 (4), 77-95.

Cnaan, R. A., & Cwikel, J. Elderly volunteers: Assessing their potential as an untapped resource. Journal of Aging and Social Policy, 1992, 4 (1-2), 125-147.

Metzendorf, D., & Cnaan, R. A. Volunteers in feminist organizations. Nonprofit Management & Leadership, 1992, 2 (3), 255-269.

Cnaan, R. A., & Goldberg-Glen, R. S. Measuring motivation to volunteer in human services. Journal of Applied Behavioral Sciences, 1991, 27 (3), 269-284.

Cnaan, R. A., & Goldberg-Glen, R. S. Comparison of volunteers in public and nonprofit human service agencies. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 1990, 19 (4), 345-358.

Cnaan, R. A. The use of volunteers by governmental social services in Israel. Welfare and Society, 1990, 10 (4), 301-318 (Hebrew). Also in: Journal of Sociology and Social Welfare, 1990, 17 (3), 150-173.

Project Number: CNAA-98-03

Entry Date: September, 1998