Congruence Matters: Volunteer Motivation, Value Internalization, and Retention

Abstract

Volunteer research suggests that both altruistic and non-altruistic motivations may improve retention. We challenge the assumption that this is true for all volunteer work. Drawing on congruity theory of attitude change, we argue that volunteer motivation may lead to high (or low) retention when the volunteer experience is perceived as congruent (or incongruent) with their motivation. Specifically, altruistic motivation can lead to a low retention during a non-altruistic event, while non-altruistic motivation can increase the retention. Using data from a mega sports event, our findings demonstrate a negative effect of altruistic motivation on retention in a non-altruistic event. We discuss implications of the role of motivation-experience congruence in volunteer retention.

Motivations and Expectations of Olympic Volunteers: Building a Legacy of Personal Development as a Key Factor for the Success of Sports Mega-Events

“…Broadly speaking, a substantial part of these results has identified the search for an experience that enriches personal and professional skills (Lucidi et al, 2008;Cho et al, 2020;Moradi et al, 2020;Bakhsh et al, 2021), whilst participating in an event they are passionate about, or for the global experience itself (Dickson et al, 2015;Doherty & Patil, 2019;Chen et al, 2022) are among the main reasons and motivations highlighted by various volunteers. Some of these results have enabled us to identify patterns of behaviour in different types of sporting events (Hallmann & Harms, 2012;Kim et al, 2019a), thus reinforcing knowledge of the main intentions, expectations and motivations that stimulate interest in the activity of volunteers (Nedvetskaya, 2020;Won et al, 2021;Okada et al, 2022).…”

“…These outputs explicitly contribute to the idea that, conceptually, a strategy for recruiting Olympic volunteers should prioritize and identify aspects that stimulate regular volunteering by experienced individuals, and with professional curricula that can easily be adapted to a context of multi-level demands (Kim et al, 2019a), while at the same time regenerating the activity through new candidates, who bring expectations and motivations that this experience will be important for their future (Kim et al, 2019b).…”