Award Date

5-15-2026

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

Communication

First Committee Member

Rebecca Rice

Second Committee Member

Tara McManus

Third Committee Member

Jeffery Child

Fourth Committee Member

Lilian Taylor Jungleib

Number of Pages

110

Abstract

Volunteers play a central role in the operation of outdoor recreation areas, yet their positions often lack formal training, clear authority, and consistent structural guidance. While organizational socialization research has focused primarily on paid employees, less is known about how volunteers in outdoor contexts navigate uncertainty and develop identity through communication. Guided by organizational socialization theory and volunteer communication scholarship, this qualitative study examines two research questions: How do outdoor recreation volunteers manage uncertainty during socialization? And how does volunteering shape their sense of identity and belonging? Drawing on 13 semi-structured interviews and prolonged ethnographic fieldwork within a public land agency, the analysis explores how volunteers learn to function in risk-embedded environments characterized by ambiguous authority boundaries and environmental unpredictability. Findings indicate that uncertainty is not resolved over time but becomes normalized as a structural feature of volunteer work. Volunteers cultivate communicative strategies, including peer consultation, patterned scripting, and symbolic alignment, that enable them to enact credibility and guide visitor behavior despite lacking formal authority. In risk-embedded environments, authority is interactionally achieved rather than institutionally granted. Over time, these practices reshape identity, as volunteers internalize stewardship as a moral orientation toward land, visitors, and organizational continuity. This study extends organizational socialization theory beyond employee-centered models by demonstrating that volunteer integration operates through the stabilization of uncertainty, the performance of symbolic credibility, and the cultivation of stewardship in the absence of formal rank.

Keywords

Identity and belonging; Organizational socialization; Outdoor recreation volunteering; Uncertainty management; Volunteer communication

Disciplines

Communication | Other Communication | Social and Behavioral Sciences

File Format

PDF

File Size

1179 KB

Degree Grantor

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Language

English

Rights

IN COPYRIGHT. For more information about this rights statement, please visit http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

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