Psychometric properties of the volunteer functions inventory with Chinese students

Abstract

The authors report an evaluation of the psychometric properties of a Chinese version of the Volunteer Functions Inventory on a sample of university student volunteers. Reliabilities were high for four out of the six scales of the Inventory (Values, Career, Social, and Understanding) in terms of internal consistency. Items in these four scales also yielded a clean structure in an exploratory factor analysis. Making new friends was found to be a motive, which was separate from sustaining friendships and separate from other motives captured by the Inventory. Confirmatory factor analysis supported the superiority of a 6-factor model over other measurement models such as unitary, bipartite, and second-order factor models. Implications for the measurement of motives in volunteerism in general and refinement of the Inventory in particular, are discussed.