To profit or not to profit: Women entrepreneurs in India

Entrepreneurial activity attracts certain kinds of individuals, whether it is to promote a social cause in the nonprofit sector or profit in the for-profit sector. This article looks at the behavior of women entrepreneurs in India in both the for-profit and nonprofit sectors to test for potential differences and similarities. We chose two groups of entrepreneurial women who founded and led relatively similar-size organizations in the same city and who provided services primarily to women and children. Our findings show that while all nonprofit entrepreneurs receive a high payoff from promoting social causes, there is no single unifying payoff for for-profit entrepreneurs. Family background and support, however, play an important role for both sets of entrepreneurs. We find that experience in the sector, social class, caste, and education influence entrepreneurial behavior and that this influence differs by sector

Student Volunteering in Zagreb in a Comparative Perspective

U ovom su radu analizirani rezultati istraživanja volontiranja studenata Sveučilišta u Zagrebu te Tehničkog i Društvenog veleučilišta u Zagrebu, provedenoga 2006.-2007. godine, a u sklopu međunarodnoga komparativnog istraživanja studenata u 14 zemalja svijeta. Cilj istraživanja bio je prikupiti podatke o različitim vidovima volontiranja (iskustvo, osnovni oblici, razlozi i koristi volontiranja, vrijednosti povezanih s volontiranjem), a posebice dobiti uvid u međunarodne razlike. S obzirom da su u ovom radu posebno fokusirani hrvatski rezultati, oni su pokazali da se hrvatski studenti, zajedno s japanskima, nalaze na začelju analiziranih zemalja. Kada volontiraju, studenti to čine uglavnom neredovito i neformalno, a najviše volontiraju za gradsku četvrt/lokalnu aktivističku grupu, u domovima za starije i nemoćne, prenoćištima i sličnim organizacijama. Intrinzični razlozi volontiranja su najviše naglašeni, ali njima komplementarni su i oni instrumentalni. Analizirane su i koristi od volontiranja. Istraživanje je također pokazalo da se volontiranje uglavnom ne promiče kroz obrazovni sustav, a da studenti smatraju takve inicijative korisnima. Rezultati istraživanja uspoređeni su s rezultatima dosadašnjih istraživanja volontiranja u Hrvatskoj, a interpretirani su u okviru analize razvoja civilnog društva u Hrvatskoj i drugim postkomunističkim zemljama te su komentirane dobivene razlike među zemljama.The paper presents an analysis of the results of the research of volunteering of students of the University of Zagreb and Technical and Social Sciences Polytechnics in Zagreb conducted between 2006-2007 within the international comparative research of students in 14 countries of the world. The aim of the research was to collect the data on various aspects of volunteering (experience, basic forms, motivations and benefits of volunteering, values connected with volunteering), and especially to gain insight into international differences. Considering the fact that the paper in particular focuses on the Croatian results, they have shown that the Croatian students, alongside with the Japanese students, are trailing behind all analysed countries. When they volunteer, students in general do it irregularly and informally, and they do most volunteer work for neighbourhood group or local activist organization, in homes for the elderly and the infirm, shelters and similar organisations. Intrinsic reasons for volunteering are emphasised the most, but the instrumental ones complement them. The research has also shown that volunteering is mostly not promoted through the system of education, and that the students consider such initiatives to be useful. The research results are compared with the results of research of volunteering in Croatia to date, and are interpreted within the analysis of civil society development in Croatia and other post-communist countries, and the differences between the countries are commented

To profit or not to profit: Women entrepreneurs in India

Entrepreneurial activity attracts certain kinds of individuals, whether it is to promote a social cause in the nonprofit sector or profit in the for-profit sector. This article looks at the behavior of women entrepreneurs in India in both the for-profit and nonprofit sectors to test for potential differences and similarities. We chose two groups of entrepreneurial women who founded and led relatively similar-size organizations in the same city and who provided services primarily to women and children. Our findings show that while all nonprofit entrepreneurs receive a high payoff from promoting social causes, there is no single unifying payoff for for-profit entrepreneurs. Family background and support, however, play an important role for both sets of entrepreneurs. We find that experience in the sector, social class, caste, and education influence entrepreneurial behavior and that this influence differs by sector

A cross-cultural examination of student volunteering: is it all resume building?

This research adopts the utilitarian view of volunteering as a starting point: we posit that for an undergraduate student population volunteering is motivated by career enhancing and job prospects. We hypothesize that in those countries where volunteering signals positive characteristics of students and helps advance their careers, their volunteer participation will be higher. Furthermore, regardless of the signaling value of volunteering, those students who volunteer for utilitarian reasons will be more likely to volunteer but will exhibit less time-intensive volunteering. Using survey data from 12 countries (n = 9,482), we examine our hypotheses related to motivations to volunteer, volunteer participation, and country differences. Findings suggest that students motivated to volunteer for building their résumés do not volunteer more than students with other motives. However, in countries with a positive signaling value of volunteering, volunteering rates are significantly higher. As expected, students motivated by résumé building motivations have a lower intensity of volunteering

Student's vocational choices and voluntary action: a 12-nation study

Previous research on student involvement suggested that business and engineering students manifest lowest rates of voluntary action. Similarly, it was thought that social science students are the most involved in voluntary action, with students of natural sciences and humanities in the middle. However, there were very few studies that empirically compared these assertions. Furthermore, these assertions were not investigated from cross-cultural perspectives. Based on a study of students in 12 countries (N = 6,570), we found that even when controlling for background variables, social science students are actually less engaged in voluntary action than other students. Engineering students are higher than expected on voluntary action while students of humanities are the most involved in voluntary action. When studying these differences in the 12 selected countries, local cultures and norms form different sets of findings that suggest that there is no universal trend in choice of academic field and voluntary action