Revista Intercontinental de Gestão Desportiva (Jul 2020)
Volunteer management at an adapted sports event: motivation, expectations, participation, and intention to repeat the experience
Abstract
Objectives: (i) describe the profile of the volunteers at an adapted sporting event; (ii) know the motivations and expectations of the volunteers who participated in an international adapted swimming sporting event, and (iii) study the influence of the variation of motivation and expectations, before and after volunteering, and their intention to repeat the volunteering experience. Methodology: 74 volunteers (29 males and 45 females) participated in the study, aged between 18 and 77 years (34.57 ± 18.22). All participants completed an anonymous questionnaire on the motivations and expectations for participation as volunteers in sporting events based on the model for assessing the expectations of volunteers (Downward & Ralston, 2005), before and after volunteering at the European Adapted Swimming Championship (2016) that lasted 8 days. The T test for paired samples was used to study the differences before and after volunteering in terms of motivation and expectation. Pearson's correlations allowed analyzing the association between the degree of satisfaction and the intention to repeat the experience with the 7 dimensions under study. Multiple linear regression was used to determine the effect of varying the dimensions of motivation and expectations on the degree of satisfaction and to repeat the experience. The statistical software used was SPSS, version 26.0. Results and discussion: The dimensions of personal experience and participation in the community were the most valued, while the dimension of the tradition of volunteering was the least considered before and after the event. Between the two moments, there are differences with statistical significance (p <0.05) in the dimensions: (i) work opportunities; (ii) tradition of volunteering; (iii) esteem, and (iv) selfishness. On average, there is a devaluation of the dimensions of job opportunity (2.88 ± 0.93 vs 2.46 ± 1.07) and tradition of volunteering (2.57 ± 0.86 vs 2.35 ± 0.67) and an appreciation of the dimensions esteem (2.77 ± 0.82 vs 3.12 ± 0.92) and selfishness (2.86 ± 0.84 vs 3.24 ± 0.84). When asked about the degree of satisfaction with the volunteering experience, it appears that the majority report being satisfied, very or extremely satisfied (17.1%, 25.7% and 37.1%, respectively). Conclusion: it is concluded that the organization of the international sports event that falls under the category of sport major event is important for the participation of the volunteer in order to promote learning and the development of personal experiences and encourage the participation of the local community. It is also concluded that in the culture of participation in volunteering in sport, not being a characteristic of this population, the degree of satisfaction of the volunteers was high, both young people and those of more advanced age, for having had enriching experiences, expressed their intention to have a similar experience again
