Volunteer satisfaction in sports clubs: A multilevel analysis in 10 European countries

Regular voluntary engagement is a basic resource for sports clubs that may also promote social cohesion and active citizenship. The satisfaction of volunteers is an imperative factor in this engagement, and the purpose of this article is to explore individual and organizational determinants of volunteer satisfaction in sports clubs. Theoretically, our study builds on the actor-theory concepts where volunteer satisfaction depends on subjective evaluations of expectations and experiences in a sports club (‘logic of situation’), so that positive evaluations lead to higher satisfaction and, hopefully, retention of volunteers. This research uses a sample of 8131 volunteers from 642 sports clubs in 10 European countries, and is the first analysis to combine determinants at the level of the club and the volunteer (multilevel). Results show that the most important determinants of satisfaction are the conditions of volunteering (recognition, support, leadership and material incentives) and the workload of volunteers. Surprisingly, club characteristics, size or having paid staff are not significant determinants of volunteer satisfaction. The results of this analysis can assist more effective volunteer management in sports clubs that are facing challenges of individualization and professionalization

Introduction

Sports clubs claim to fulfil several important socio-political functions and therefore to play an important role in public welfare for European contemporary societies. This significance is mainly based on the considerable size and voluntary character of the club-organised sports sector. In almost all European countries, sports clubs are valuable sports providers, playing a crucial role in regular sports activity, particularly for youth and competitive sports. In the main, sports clubs offer a setting for regular and well-organised sports activities characterised by conviviality and togetherness. This book investigates the contribution of sports clubs to public welfare using the broad range of empirical data collected within the framework of a comparative study. The project “Social Inclusion and Volunteering in Sports Clubs in Europe” (SIVSCE) collected comparable data at various analytical levels across ten European countries. The overarching concern of this book is to analyse and compare the extent sports clubs can contribute to health promotion, social cohesion and democratic participation through volunteering, and therefore promote public welfare in European societies. In the introduction, we provide a background and give an overview of the structure of the ten country chapters and two comparative chapters contained in this book

The Contribution of Sports Clubs to Public Welfare in European Societies. A Cross-National Comparative Perspective

This chapter presents the results from a cross-national comparative analysis of European sports clubs’ contribution to public welfare and offers potential explanations for the similarities and differences identified. The analysis reveals how sports clubs make a significant contribution to public welfare with regard to the four functions examined: health promotion, social integration, democracy and voluntary work. However, the contribution of sports clubs to these functions can mainly be understood as side effects to the activities offered by clubs. Sports clubs’ contribution to public welfare is in many respects relatively similar, but the analysis also identifies significant differences between countries. Potential explanations for the similarities and differences identified are examined at different levels of analysis. At the macro-level (societal level), explanations pertaining to the historical origin and political opportunity structure for sports clubs are discussed. At the meso-level (sports club level), potential explanations regarding the constitutive elements and typical features, the organisational capacity as well as the structural characteristics of sports clubs are discussed. At the micro-level (member level), potential explanations pertaining to the social background as well as motivation and engagement of members are discussed. The chapter ends with five awareness points to enhance sports clubs’ contribution to public welfare

Conceptual Framework and Research Design

The overarching aim of this book is to analyse the contribution of sports clubs to public welfare across different European countries. Sports clubs are firstly concep-tualised as voluntary organisations. Then a multi-level conceptual framework is de-veloped to consider the following three analytical levels: (1) historical roots and the embedment of sports clubs in society and sports policy systems (macro-level), (2) the sports club with structural characteristics, goals, resources and management (meso-level), (3) the members and volunteers and their sport activities and engage-ment in the club (micro-level). We then briefly introduce relevant research as well as important policy documents about various socio-political functions, i.e. health promotion, social integration, democratic involvement and participation as well as volunteering. The research questions that guide the analysis across the ten countries chapters are also developed. Finally, the research design of the project “Social In-clusion and Volunteering in Sports Clubs in Europe” (SIVSCE) is presented and limitations are discussed. This project collected comparable data across ten Euro-pean countries by means of the same instruments and standardised questionnaires

Democratic Participation in Voluntary Associations: A Multilevel Analysis of Sports Clubs in Europe

Non-profit associations are usually democratically organized, and this feature plays a legitimizing role for the public support to associations. This article examines which characteristics at country level, organizational level and individual level can explain variations with regard to member engagement in the association democracy in sports clubs in Europe. The statistical analyses use data on 12,755 members from 642 sports clubs in ten European countries. The findings show that the majority of the members in sports clubs participate in the association democracy, but the level and form of engagement varies considerably. At the country level, no link between the democratic strength and quality of the countries on the one hand and member engagement on the other could be identified. Instead, characteristics at the organizational and individual level were found to be relevant. More concretely, (1) the size of the sports club, (2) the socioeconomic background of the members (gender, age and education), and (3) the way in which the members are involved in and affiliated to the club (engaged in voluntary work, participating in social activities, etc.) were found to be significantly correlated with the engagement of members in the association democracy