Future volunteer intentions at a major sport event

This paper presents the findings of a study that explored the intended future voluntary behaviour of volunteers at the 2013 Australian Masters Games, a major sport event held in Geelong, Australia. Grounded on data gathered from 194 participants who responded to an online survey (post-event), perceived organizational support (POS) and perceived supervisor support (PSS) theory guided the examination into volunteers’ satisfaction while volunteering at the event, and as predictors of future volunteer intentions (FVI). Upon exploring the relative contributions of POS and PSS respectively to predicting volunteer satisfaction and FVI, there were some interesting findings. In predicting the satisfaction of volunteers at the event, POS was found to make a substantial contribution to predicting volunteer satisfaction, while PSS had very little contribution. Further, POS and satisfaction were both found to make substantial contributions to predicting FVI, yet PSS was again found to have very little contribution; these findings may be explained by the relationship the volunteer had with their immediate supervisor at the event. The paper has the following implications; first it can inform volunteer managers on the practicalities of creating volunteer satisfaction, particularly those associated with sport events; second it can make recommendations based on creating lasting benefit to host communities; and finally it may provide academic benefits to research concerned with volunteerism and sport events.