Abstract

The objective of this study is to analyze the relationship between organizational capacity and the use of firefighter volunteers by volunteer fire departments within local/county governments. The study is based on a nonrandom sample of 213 U.S. volunteer fire departments within local governments. The fire chief of these fire departments responded to an annual survey conducted by Firehouse Magazine in 2010 and 2011. This study uses OLS regression analysis to assess the impact of organizational capacity (measured as annual budget) on the number of firefighter volunteers used by the volunteer fire department. There is evidence to suggest that organizational capacity has a positive and statistically significant effect on the number of volunteers used among U.S. volunteer fire departments. This study extends current literature on public volunteerism by analyzing factors that explain variation in the use of volunteers by local governments, specifically fire departments. Findings suggest that fire departments with greater resources in terms of revenue are more likely to use volunteers.