After the party: motivations for volunteer recruitment and retention in independent election campaigns

Abstract Political participation is evolving rapidly, leading to consideration of whether motivations are likewise changing and how well widely accepted accounts of the incentives underpinning participation apply to new groups, such as independents. This study employs the General Incentives Model (GIM) to analyse the motivations for participation in the novel Australian independent campaigns of 2022. Data from 55 semi-structured interviews, supplemented by a survey of 282 highly engaged supporters, is analysed to develop a detailed account of the motivations underpinning involvement. The analysis identifies the presence of incentives from across the GIM and shows that incentives for recruitment and retention differed. Recruitment was primarily motivated by instrumental collective outcome incentives, while retention was largely underpinned by experiential selective process incentives. Interview results highlight how participant perceptions of the political context and volunteer roles shaped motivations. In addition to contributing new insights into motivations for non-party campaign participation, this study demonstrates the applicability of the GIM beyond party campaigns and indicates the importance of participant perceptions in shaping incentive salience.