PhD Defence Philine van Overbeeke
Volunteering is broadly embedded in our communities. Academics, practitioners, and media often speak to the value volunteers add to society. Existing academics, practitioners, and media often describe the value-added role of volunteers in the replacement of paid staff in means of cost-saving. In her dissertation, "Appreciating What Matters: The many dimensions of volunteer value", ERIM's Philine van Overbeeke challenged the simplistic financial view about volunteers to further explore how volunteers, described as ‘the glue of our country’, create value in different ways. Through the dissertation, Philine demonstrated how to steer away from the conventional cost-saving approach towards a value-based framework to make more effective and efficient staffing decisions within volunteer-involving organisations.
Philine defended her dissertation in the Senate Hall at Erasmus University Rotterdam (EUR) on Thursday, 12 September at 15:30. Her supervisors were prof. dr. Lucas Meijs (EUR) and dr. Corinna Frey-Heger (EUR). Other members of the Doctoral Committee were dr. Kees Bieskart (EUR), dr. Sara Kinsbergen (Radboud University Nijmegen), dr. Rebecca Nesbit (University of Georgia), prof. dr. Marlene Walk (University of Freiburg), and dr. Stijn van Puyvelde (Vrije Universiteit Brussel)
About Philine van Overbeeke
Philine is academic researcher and lecturer at the Business-Society Management Department at Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University. Besides her research and teaching she worked part-time on a PhD in Management on the topic of volunteer management. Philine holds a BSc in Business administration and a MSc in Gobal Business & Sustainability, both obtained at RSM. Her MSc thesis focussed on the value of volunteers for UNICEF the Netherlands. In her PhD projects, she expanded this research with the overarching question: How do volunteers create value-added for different stakeholders. In answering this question, attention was given to third-party models and volunteer inclusion.
Philine teaches several courses on the BSc and MSc level, including courses on nonprofit management, economics of nonprofits, value of volunteer organizations, inclusive leadership, social consultancy and qualitative research methods. She also coaches several theses and research projects with a focus on CSR, volunteer management and related topics.
Thesis Abstract
Volunteering is broadly embedded in our communities. Academics, practitioners, and media often speak to the value volunteers add to society. Most of the time they do so in financial terms calculating cost savings, based on the argument that volunteers can replace paid staff within an organization. However, volunteers are also described as ‘the glue of our country’, suggesting they are valuable beyond the mere financial. One of the main goals in writing this dissertation was to challenge the simplistic financial take on volunteers and to explore, in much nuance, how volunteers create value in different ways (in comparison to paid staff), and thus become influential beyond being a cheaper replacement for paid staff. The chapters in this dissertation all showcase this in different ways and explore how to move away from a cost-saving approach and towards a value-based framework to make more effective and efficient staffing decisions within volunteer-involving organizations.
View photos of Philine's PhD Defence
Photos: Michelle Muus / Michelle Muus Fotografie
