Activating Unemployed Job Seekers Toward Volunteering

Unemployment is a devastating experience that can result in poor mental and physical health and reduced wellbeing. Deterioration of social networks and loss of other secondary benefits previously provided by employment may lead to increased social anxiety and isolation. Unemployed individuals with social anxiety may exhibit fewer approach behaviours toward activities that contribute to overall wellbeing and increased likelihood of re-employment. Research shows that volunteering can be a pathway to re-employment and provide similar social and psychological benefits as employment, but also shows that unemployed individuals are less likely to volunteer. Approach Avoidance Task (AAT) training has been effective in improving implicit and explicit attitudes toward stressful stimuli and enhancing approach behaviours toward beneficial activities. The present research examines if one-time AAT training in approaching images of volunteering will positively influence implicit and explicit evaluations by unemployed jobseekers toward volunteering, as measured by the single category implicit association test (SC-IAT), self-reported measures of feelings toward and intention to volunteer and behaviours toward volunteering.Results from a broad sample of English speaking, unemployed job seekers between the ages of 18 and 65 from North America, Europe, and Oceania did not support the five hypotheses in this study. Although procedures, as designed, did not show a significant, positive, treatment effect, initial exploratory analysis indicates avenues for further investigation.This research contributes to developing AAT training literature in investigating applications in vocational and volunteering domains. Further empirical evidence is required to fully understand how AAT training could be used in these applications. It is hoped that this research and further recommendations encourage others to investigate the potential of AAT training in these domains.