Abstract: Volunteering refers to an individual’s long term helping behavior without compensation conducted willingly for the active help seeker after deliberation in the context of an organization. Its formation and development can be explained by Function Theory, Trait-based paradigm, and Multi-factors model. Volunteering can be measured mainly by Volunteer Functions Inventory, Volunteerism Questionnaire and Volunteering Questionnaire. Investigators has made an deep exploration on the antecedents of Volunteering such as demographic variables, personality variables, motive variables and organizational factors, as well as the consequences of it including volunteers’ physical and mental health and social earnings. However, a further research is still needed on clarification of the definition, integration of theories, measuring and sampling.

Key words: volunteering, trait-based paradigm, multi-factors model, VFI