Objectives Factors promoting or inhibiting the willingness to continue working as district welfare commissioners who support community welfare were investigated.Methods Questionnaires were sent by mail to all district welfare commissioners who had served 2-3 terms in all the wards and cities of Tokyo (N=1,936). The response rate in the survey was 69.5% (N=1,346).Results Results of structural equation modeling showed the following: (1) Positive feelings such as those resulting from psychosocial rewards for their activities were strongly related to the willingness to continue working as district welfare commissioners, as compared to negative feelings such as role strain. (2) Role ambiguity was related more to the decline in the willingness to continue working, as compared to role overload and role conflict. (3) Support from formal and professional organizations had indirect effects on the willingness to continue working, which was mediated by increase in psychosocial rewards and decrease in role ambiguity.Conclusion The results suggest the importance of management that decreases role ambiguity and increases psychosocial gains, including the sense of worth, as well as emotional, instrumental, and informational support from public and professional organizations. These were important factors for continuing volunteer activities for community residents.
Keywords: district welfare commissioner; psychosocial rewards; role strain; support; volunteer; willingness to continue working.