VOLUNTEER FOLLOWERSHIP IN NONPROFIT ORGANIZATIONS

Followership is an essential part of the leadership process. There would be no leaders without followers. A large portion of followers in nonprofit organizations are composed of volunteers. These voluntary followers play a critical role within the structure of nonprofit organizations. Nonprofit organizations are one of the fastest growing types of organizations in the world today. These organizations are challenged with the task of recruiting, motivating, and retaining unpaid volunteers. The purpose of this literature review was to explore volunteerism within the context of followership in order to again a better understanding of followers in volunteer roles within nonprofit organizations. The literature examined addressed various labels for the types of followers and the characteristics of effective followers. Additionally, the literature revealed that socially constructed perceptions followers have of themselves within the context of their organizations have an influence on their role as a follower. Research has not shown how these concepts apply to voluntary followers. However, the literature inspects both functional analysis and role identity theories in relation to volunteerism. In general, there is an overall lack of research that studies volunteerism in the context of followership. From this review of the literature it is suggested that further research should combine functional analysis theory and role identity theory within volunteerism with current followership research to reveal avenues for further study that will provide better insight into the role volunteer followers in nonprofit organizations.