Motivation under pressure: a systematic review of psychological and organizational factors in emergency volunteering

Abstract

Emergency services worldwide rely heavily on volunteers, yet high-risk organizations such as fire, civil protection, and disaster response services struggle with member demotivation and dropout. This systematic review integrates psychological and organizational perspectives to identify factors that sustain or erode volunteers’ motivation in high-risk environments (HREs). Following PRISMA guidelines, we conducted a preregistered, protocol-driven search in seven international databases, screened 3,684 records, and included 87 empirical studies from 23 countries covering volunteer fire services, emergency medical services, search and rescue, and civil protection units (N_total = 8,162). Study quality was appraised using established checklists for quantitative and qualitative designs. Drawing on self-determination theory (SDT), we mapped our findings to need-supportive and need-thwarting conditions at individual and organizational levels. Across contexts, the most consistent positive driver of retention was relatedness, operationalized as team cohesion, identification, and mutual trust. Individual competence was fostered by clear roles, realistic preparation, high-quality training, and constructive feedback; autonomy was fostered by meaningful voice and local discretion. Demotivation and withdrawal were associated with chronic overload, work–family conflict, burnout and secondary trauma, high alert load, poor leadership and communication, and perceived lack of fairness and recognition. Overall, the evidence suggests that retaining volunteers in HREs is primarily an organizational design outcome rather than an individual resilience trait. We outline two practice-oriented implications, namely ”trust and risk resilience” and “expectation-to-experience alignment,” which translate SDT-based insights into actionable levers for designing safer and more reliable volunteer systems under conditions of growing societal risks.