Sport Mega-Event Volunteers' Motivations and Postevent Intention to Volunteer: The Sydney World Masters Games, 2009

Abstract

www.cognizantcommunication.com 227 ticipation, and a social legacy of enhanced volunteering. This article focuses on the latter and in particular the changes in volunteering behavior 3 months after volunteering at a mega-sport event. Getz (2007) indicated that mega-events are of a particular size and significance that set them apart from other events and, further, may be defined as those that "are typically global in their orientation

Enabling Event Volunteer Legacies: A Knowledge Management Perspective

“…Such conversations are not limited to the Olympics and Paralympics, but is also seen with other international mega-sport events such as the Commonwealth Games, and the Rugby and FIFA World Cups across developed and emerging economies (e.g., Bang, Lee, & Swart, 2014;Human & Van Graan, 2013;Nichols & Ralston, 2012;Smith & Dickson, 2013;Tewari, 2014). At the same time the academic literature already recognizes that legacy is not something that just happens it needs to be planned and managed (see Dickson et al, 2015;Misener, Darcy, Legg, & Gilbert, 2013;Preuss, 2007) in order to maximize its impact. However, what is also evident is Delivered by Ingenta to: University of Brighton IP: 194.83.115.14 On: Wed, 12 Jul 2017 09:07:13 Article(s) and/or figure(s) cannot be used for resale.…”

“…This will affect how they understand what is asked of them and how they approach the task. For some volunteers their tacit knowledge will be about their expectations of the Games themselves and what their role will be; if they find there is a mismatch there may be low levels of satisfaction that may impact their intention to volunteer in the future (Dickson, Darcy, Edwards, & Terwiel, 2015).…”

Post-Event Volunteering Legacy: Did the London 2012 Games Induce a Sustainable Volunteer Engagement?

“…It has sought to address some of the limitations of previous volunteer legacies studies, which were conducted in the immediate aftermath of the event or were measuring intentions of volunteers rather than actual behaviour (see, for example, [48]). Thus, the study took place three years and eight months after the event.…”

“…In fact, the author of [21] highlighted the fact that volunteers without any previous volunteering experience were more likely to increase their levels of community volunteering in comparison to those with experience following a large-scale sports event. Similarly, another study indicated that the majority of the London 2012 Games Makers, including those who had not volunteered before, would like to continue volunteering after the Games, either for a mega-event or in other general settings [48]. On the other hand, the current study echoes the findings of past research [23], which suggests that there was limited emphasis on the training and development of volunteers during the Games to develop skills beyond the role they played during the Games that could be transferred and used to other community activities in the future.…”

“…This case study provides responses from a sample of Games Makers three years and eight months on from the London 2012 Games, eliminating any post-event euphoria and satisfaction and thus accounting for the behaviour of volunteers and not their intentions, as with previous studies (see, for example, [17,21,48]. Although a time frame of approximately four years following the Games is a suitable time to determine a legacy, a true volunteer legacy cannot be determined until a considerable number of years after an event.…”