The Role of Pride in Retaining Sport Event Volunteers—An Abstract

Abstract

Many large and small scale sport events worldwide are successful thanks in large part to volunteers. These unsung, unpaid heroes are essential to the survival of such events. However, event organizers are challenged with recruiting and retaining volunteers in an increasingly competitive environment. Research suggests individuals’ perceptions of their work while volunteering (i.e., task attributes) has a significant effect on their satisfaction (Galindo-Kuhn and Guzely 2001). Additionally, volunteers who are able to utilize their skills fully and contribute to the ultimate success of the organization are more satisfied and committed to the organization (Jamison 2003). Other research indicates organizational-level evaluations (e.g., organizational reputation) play an important role attracting human capital (Cable and Turban 2003; O’Reilly and Chatman 1986). In the current study these research streams are linked to examine the effect volunteers’ task and organizational attributes have on their commitment to the volunteer organization. Importantly, pride—a volunteer’s assessment of others’ perceptions of the image of the volunteer organization (Lievens et al. 2007)—is predicted to play a mediating role in this relationship.