Measuring Olympic Volunteers' Motivation

Volunteers, who donate to the best of their ability, time, and effort, for achieving the organizational goals of an Olympic Games Organizing Committee, have in recent years become a vital part of the human resources required for the effective staging of the Olympic Games. Furthermore, volunteers are often seen as the 'soft infrastructure' following the legacy plans of host nations aiming to stage the Olympic Games. Despite the significance of volunteers for the delivery of the Olympic Games, research on Olympic volunteers’ motivations, characteristics, and experiences is still limited. The purpose of this study was to explore and investigate the characteristics and motives of volunteers at the London 2012 Olympics and examine the factorial structure of the Motivation Scale adapted for this purpose. Data was gathered from a volunteer sample of 163 individuals, who offered their services as volunteer drivers at the Fleet Transport Department for the London 2012 Olympic Games. The 27-item motivation scale demonstrated satisfactory validity and reliability. The five extracted factors (patriotism and community values; love of sport and the Olympics; interpersonal contacts; personal growth; career orientation) were well defined and interpreted in terms of the items included. The findings demonstrate that volunteers at the Olympic Games are motivated by a variety of factors, different from those who volunteer at local sporting events or sport clubs, and the impact of these factors may vary considerably from one individual to another. Therefore, this study will enhance event organizers’ understanding of the reasons that initiate volunteer involvement with the Games, in order to maximize the value that can be derived from the effective use of volunteers. It can also enable the host community to adopt effective retention policies after the Games, to further utilize this network of committed and trained individuals for future community events or organizations, and develop social capital and benefit the society in the long term

Volunteer Satisfaction in Sport: Insights from Women Rugby Clubs in England

Sport clubs in England increasingly rely on volunteers to sustain their operations and reduce the cost of service delivery. It is estimated that sport volunteering in the UK represents 26% of the total volunteering activity (Sport England, 2003). However, recent trends suggest a decline in sport participation and a move towards more flexible, individual activities outside the formal structure of traditional sport clubs (Nichols et al., 2016). This is also associated with a decline in formal volunteering levels. Rugby Union is one of the sports that has experienced a decline in participation rates. In particular, women’s rugby is still a developing sport, that shares volunteers, coaches and playing facilities with traditionally larger male clubs. This case study explores aspects of the volunteering experience that contribute to volunteers’ satisfaction in women’s rugby. Affective and cognitive components of satisfaction have been identified as significant among volunteers in English women rugby clubs. Understanding aspects of volunteer satisfaction will enable the Rugby Football Union (RFU) to tackle the decline in volunteer numbers and retain them within the rugby club network

Volunteer Satisfaction in Sport: Insights from Women's Rugby Clubs in England.

Sport clubs in England increasingly rely on volunteers to sustain their operations and reduce the cost of service delivery. It is estimated that sport volunteering in the UK represents 26% of the total volunteering activity (Sport England, 2003). However, recent trends suggest a decline in sport participation and a move towards more flexible, individual activities outside the formal structure of traditional sport clubs (Nichols et al., 2016). This is also associated with a decline in formal volunteering levels. Rugby Union is one of the sports that has experienced a decline in participation rates. In particular, women’s rugby is still a developing sport, that shares volunteers, coaches and playing facilities with traditionally larger male clubs. This case study explores aspects of the volunteering experience that contribute to volunteers’ satisfaction in women’s rugby. Affective and cognitive components of satisfaction have been identified as significant among volunteers in English women rugby clubs. Understanding aspects of volunteer satisfaction will enable the Rugby Football Union (RFU) to tackle the decline in volunteer numbers and retain them within the rugby club network

Assessing the determinants and impacts of and relationships between, sports club and sports event volunteers'behaviour: The Case of Women's rugby in England

The purpose of this study is to examine if the experiences of volunteers within women s rugby at both rugby clubs and at the 2010 Women s Rugby World Cup (WRWC) in England provide the basis for the continuation of such activities as well as the transfer of volunteer effort to event-based or club-based activity within the specific sports concerned or across sports to contribute towards society s broader sporting needs. Sport volunteering in the UK accounts for 26% of the total formal voluntary activity, and largely takes place within the Voluntary Sport Club (VSC) system (Sport England, 2003). It provides the basis for the development of grassroots sports. Sport volunteering also takes place at sport events which provide the foundation for elite level sport development. It is known, however, that if the volunteering experience is satisfying then this may lead to higher levels of commitment with the sports organization, the event or the voluntary cause, which may affect volunteers longevity and intentions to continue volunteering (Doherty, 2009). Women s rugby was selected as a case study, as the 2010 Women s Rugby World Cup was held in England. This facilitated comparisons between club and event volunteers. With the cooperation of the Rugby Football Union for Women (RFUW), research participants were identified and recruited via an email invitation including a link to an internet-administered questionnaire. A total of 70 individuals that volunteered for the 2010 WRWC and 168 volunteers involved in the women s rugby clubs completed the online survey. The results indicated that overall and despite some variation in the emphasis of the findings there is evidence in support of the relevance of the widely known determinants of volunteering such as motivation to volunteer, socio-demographic characteristics, satisfaction with the volunteering experience, engagement to sport and volunteering at to the continuation of future club or event volunteering as well as its transfer to other rugby and other sport events. Consequently, event organisers should work closely with club authorities to help volunteers to make a better connection from their club to the sport more widely and with the role of clubs and events to support the sport generally, to develop a shared identity in both clubs and events, that is across the whole sporting experience and to increase volunteers development opportunities through deploying their efforts in more than one setting which may then lead to the development of social capital

Stepping Out With Carers: Evaluation Report

Commissioned by Sport England, the project aimed to evaluate the impact and reach of the Stepping Out with Carers walking scheme for people with disabilities and their Carers in Kent

Expert Comment: Response to Scottish FA’s head contact ban

Following the news that the Scottish FA is due to ban under-12s from heading footballs in training sessions, Dr Niki Koutrou (Programme Director for Sport Management) and Dr Geoff Kohe (Lecturer in Sport Management and Policy), have provided comment on how the head contact ban can be seen as a positive movement, yet sport organisations need to act beyond this to safeguard young people

Motivations of Volunteers at the Olympic Games. A Case Study of London 2012 Games Volunteers

Volunteers, who donate to the best of their abilities, their time and efforts, for achieving the organizational goals of an Olympic Games Organizing Committee, have in recent years become a vital part of the human resources required for the effective staging of the Olympic Games. Furthermore, volunteers are often seen as the 'soft infrastructure' following the legacy plans of host nations aiming to stage the Olympic Games (Solberg & Preuss, 2007). Despite the significance of volunteers for the delivery of the Olympic Games, research on Olympic volunteers’ motivations, characteristics and experiences is still limited (Giannoulakis et al., 2008; Bang, Alexandris & Ross, 2009). The purpose of the study was to explore and investigate the characteristics and motives of volunteers at the London 2012 Olympics and examine the factorial structure of the Motivation Scale adapted under this purpose. Data were gathered from a volunteer sample of 163 individuals, who offered their services as volunteer drivers at the Fleet Transport Department during the London 2012 Olympic Games. The 27-item motivation scale demonstrated satisfactory validity and reliability. The five extracted factors (Patriotism and Community values, Love of sport and the Olympics, Interpersonal contacts, Personal Growth, Career Orientation) were well defined and interpreted in terms of the items included. The findings demonstrate that volunteers at the Olympic Games are motivated by a variety of factors, different to those who volunteer at local sporting events or sport clubs, and the impact of these factors may vary considerably from one individual to another. Therefore, this study will enhance event organizers’ understanding of the reasons that initiate volunteers’ involvement with the Games, in order to maximize the value that can be derived from the effective use of their volunteers. It can also enable the host community to adopt effective retention policies after the Games, to further utilize this network of committed and trained individuals, to future community events or organizations, develop social capital and benefit the society in the long term

The Impact of the 2010 Women’s Rugby World Cup on Sustained Volunteering in the Rugby Community

Major sport events increasingly rely on volunteers to sustain their operations. Thus, event organisers are concerned with the task of identifying volunteers and utilising appropriate strategies to retain them. The purpose of the study is to explore the potential of harnessing volunteer activity in different contexts, as a result of previous single-sport event experience, and to determine which factors influence future volunteering decisions. Data that was related to volunteers’ profile, motivations, satisfaction, and future volunteer intentions was gathered through an online survey on 70 volunteers of the 2010 Women’s Rugby World Cup. Factor analysis was employed to summarise volunteers’ motivations and satisfaction with their experience. Regression analysis was then applied to identify which of these factors, for example, which motivations, aspects of satisfaction with the experience, socio-demographic characteristics, and previous sport engagement determine future intentions to volunteer in similar events or in sport clubs. The implications of the findings for event organisers are then discussed