IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/pal/palcom/v9y2022i1d10.1057_s41599-022-01127-2.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Optimising self-organised volunteer efforts in response to the COVID-19 pandemic

Author

Listed:
  • Anping Zhang

    (Tsinghua University, University Town)

  • Ke Zhang

    (Tsinghua University, University Town)

  • Wanda Li

    (Tsinghua University, University Town)

  • Yue Wang

    (Tsinghua University)

  • Yang Li

    (Tsinghua University, University Town)

  • Lin Zhang

    (Tsinghua University, University Town)

Abstract

Crowdsource volunteering efforts have contributed significantly to pandemic response and recovery during the COVID-19 outbreak. In such efforts, individual volunteers can collaborate to achieve rapid mobilisation toward emergent community demands. In this study, we quantitively study this phenomenon using the concept of self-organisation, by proposing a data-driven framework to investigate when and how self-organisation emerged during the pandemic response and how it relates to effectiveness of volunteer organisations in general. Using activity data collected from a mobile volunteer platform in Shenzhen, China, we found that volunteers’ task participation and social and task preferences show multiple phases of self-organisation in response to changing epidemic situations and centralised interventions. Simulation experiments further show that the self-organised volunteer system can become more responsive and more robust in the face of uncertain community demands with minimal centralised guidance.

Suggested Citation

  • Anping Zhang & Ke Zhang & Wanda Li & Yue Wang & Yang Li & Lin Zhang, 2022. "Optimising self-organised volunteer efforts in response to the COVID-19 pandemic," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 9(1), pages 1-12, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:pal:palcom:v:9:y:2022:i:1:d:10.1057_s41599-022-01127-2
    DOI: 10.1057/s41599-022-01127-2
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1057/s41599-022-01127-2
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1057/s41599-022-01127-2?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Steven Bauer & Dongkuk Lim, 2019. "Effect of Communication Practices on Volunteer Organization Identification and Retention," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(9), pages 1-17, April.
    2. Miao, Qing & Schwarz, Susan & Schwarz, Gary, 2021. "Responding to COVID-19: Community volunteerism and coproduction in China," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 137(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Baining Zhao & Xuzhe Wang & Tianyu Zhang & Rongye Shi & Fengli Xu & Fanhang Man & Erbing Chen & Yang Li & Yong Li & Tao Sun & Xinlei Chen, 2024. "Estimating and modeling spontaneous mobility changes during the COVID-19 pandemic without stay-at-home orders," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 1-15, December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Fayez Nahedh Alsehani & Ainuddin Wahid Bin Abdul Wahab & Liyana Shuib, 2023. "Exploring Social Media and Organisational Sustainability Performance Goals: Themes, Functional Areas, and Practices Learning from the Preceding Decade," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(3), pages 1-17, January.
    2. Weibin Wang & Zeyu Xia, 2023. "Study of COVID-19 Epidemic Control Capability and Emergency Management Strategy Based on Optimized SEIR Model," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 11(2), pages 1-31, January.
    3. Georgios Lazaridis & Dimitris Panaretos & Antonia Matalas, 2022. "The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Food-Related Behaviour of Tourists Visiting Greece," Tourism and Hospitality, MDPI, vol. 3(4), pages 1-22, September.
    4. Mercedes Aranda & Salvatore Zappalà & Gabriela Topa, 2019. "Motivations for Volunteerism, Satisfaction, and Emotional Exhaustion: The Moderating Effect of Volunteers’ Age," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(16), pages 1-16, August.
    5. Cátia Martins & Saul Jesus & José Tomás da Silva & Conceição Ribeiro & Maria Dulce Estêvão & Helena Mocho & Elias Ratinho & Cristina Nunes, 2023. "The Volunteer Motivation Scale (VMS): Adaptation and Psychometric Properties among a Portuguese Sample of Volunteers," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(1), pages 1-14, December.
    6. Katona, Márton & Petrovics, Nándor, 2021. "Válság és együttműködés. A koronavírus-járvány okozta lehetséges intézményi változások és a kooperatív közszolgáltatások [Crisis and cooperation: possible institutional changes caused by the corona," Közgazdasági Szemle (Economic Review - monthly of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences), Közgazdasági Szemle Alapítvány (Economic Review Foundation), vol. 0(1), pages 76-95.
    7. Yifan Zhong & Yameng Li & Jian Ding & Yiyi Liao, 2021. "Risk Management: Exploring Emerging Human Resource Issues during the COVID-19 Pandemic," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 14(5), pages 1-23, May.
    8. Wenmin Wu & Chien-Chiang Lee & Wenwu Xing & Shan-Ju Ho, 2021. "The impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on Chinese-listed tourism stocks," Financial Innovation, Springer;Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, vol. 7(1), pages 1-18, December.
    9. Yang Zhang & Su Zhang & Fu-Chieh Hsu, 2023. "Crisis Management Performance of Upscale Hotels in the Greater Bay Area, China: A Comparative Study in a Complex Institutional Situation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(6), pages 1-24, March.
    10. María J. Ibáñez & Maribel Guerrero & Claudia Yáñez-Valdés & Sebastián Barros-Celume, 2022. "Digital social entrepreneurship: the N-Helix response to stakeholders’ COVID-19 needs," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 47(2), pages 556-579, April.
    11. Silvia Dorado & Ying Chen & Andrea M. Prado & Virginia Simon, 2022. "Attuned HRM Systems for Social Enterprises," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 178(3), pages 829-848, July.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:pal:palcom:v:9:y:2022:i:1:d:10.1057_s41599-022-01127-2. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.nature.com/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.