Allen J. A., Yack, M.,& Hart, S. E. (2022).Community engagement at academic health centers: An introduction to this special issue. Metropolitan Universities, 33(3), 3-9. DOI: 10.18060/26312

Academic health centers are essential in many communities, providing health professions education and patient-focused services. These institutions often serve as anchor institutions for community-engaged efforts to serve underserved populations. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the central nature of academic health centers, and the well-being of communities, were on full display. This special issue aims to contribute to and expand our understanding and inform empirically the evidence-based programming, interventions, and policies that strengthen community engagement at academic health centers.

Allen, J. A. & Augustin, T. (2021). So much more than cheap labor! Volunteers engage in emotional labor. The Social Science Journal. DOI: 10.1080/03623319.2021.1900671

While volunteers provide the backbone for many nonprofits, the volunteer rate is the lowest it has been since tracking started in 2002. Among the many other duties of volunteers in various organizations, most volunteers are expected to provide good customer service to nonprofit organization clients. Emotional labor is a key aspect of good customer service encounters, and, following Hochschild’s model of emotional labor among employees, we propose that volunteers are aware of organizational display rules, engage in emotional labor, and experience emotional exhaustion. Using a sample of volunteers in nonprofit organizations, we found that volunteers do engage in emotional labor in response to organizational display rules, and surface acting mediates the relationship between display rules and emotional exhaustion in volunteers. Implications concerning emotional labor research as well as the similarities between volunteer and employee experiences with emotional labor are discussed.

Allen, J. A. & *Prange, K. (2021). Another Meeting Just Might Do It!: Enhancing Volunteer Engagement Using Effective Meetings. Human Service Organizations: Management, Leadership, & Governance, 45(1), 49-65. DOI: 10.1080/23303131.2020.1823545.

Volunteers are an essential part of the economy and impact our communities by helping nonprofit organizations provide services to those in need. Finding practical strategies to facilitate engagement within volunteer workforces is one way to address how nonprofit organizations can retain their volunteers. We hypothesize that meetings between volunteers and organizational members (e.g., volunteer resource manager) are an avenue through which exchange relationships between organizations and their volunteers may be generated and strengthened, thereby influencing volunteer engagement. Results suggest high-quality meetings positively influence volunteer engagement and voice. Practical suggestions for human service managers are offered.

Trent, S. B., Allen, J. A., & *Prange, K. A. (2020). Communicating Our Way to Engaged Volunteers: A Mediated Process Model of Volunteer Communication, Engagement, and Commitment. Journal of Community Psychology. Doi: 10.1002/jcop.22353.

Retaining productive volunteers is an essential issue nonprofit organizations face, as volunteers help extend nonprofits' services to their target populations. The current study examined two facets of communication, perception of voice (i.e., upward communication) and satisfaction with communication (i.e., downward communication), as well as training, as important volunteer management practices with respect to facilitating volunteer engagement and commitment using both psychological contract and social exchange theories as the framework.