2015 North American Society for Sport Management Conference (NASSM 2015)
Ottawa, ON June 2 – 6, 2015 Page 145
Motivation, Satisfaction, and Retention of Undergraduate Sport Management Volunteers
Chrysostomos Giannoulakis, Ball State University
James Johnson, Ball State University
Nathan Felver, Ball State University
Lawrence Judge, Ball State University
Management/leadership Friday, June 5, 2015 20-minute oral presentation
(including questions)
Abstract 2015-097 10:35 AM (Frontenac)
Introduction
Sport management programs often partner with athletic departments or community sport organizations to provide
volunteer experiences for their students. Undergraduate volunteers have the opportunity to assist with communitybased
events, be involved in game-day operations with college athletics, or help organize events for their academic
programs. This reciprocal partnership is often beneficial for students, programs, and the organizations with whom
they volunteer. Students gain practical experiences, while the athletic department or community organization gains
much-needed volunteers. These volunteer experiences also provide sport management students with an opportunity
to explore interests in their chosen major (Bodey & Schaumleffel, 2008). Determining what motivates undergraduate
sport management students to contribute their time to volunteer could be essential to increased student development
and program-community volunteer partnerships. Furthermore, understanding these motives could lead to an overall
satisfying experience for students, which could lead to sustained volunteerism.
Review of Literature
Volunteers are an important element since they provide sport administrators with the ability to offer, sustain, or
expand the quantity, quality, and diversity of sport organizations’ services (Strigas & Jackson, 2003). In the academic
setting, students’ learning experience can be supported by their level of involvement in extracurricular and volunteer
activities. Student involvement refers to the “quantity and quality of the physical and psychological energy that
students invest in the college experience” (Astin, 1984, p. 297). Astin (1984) found a positive correlation between
students’ co-curricular involvement and their success in college. In the sole academic study that has examined sport
management students’ volunteer motivation, Pierce, Johnson, Felver, Wanless, and Judge (2014) found Love of
Sport, Career, and Understanding as the three highest rated motivation factors. Additionally, Career and
Understanding motives indicated that sport management students were also motivated by an opportunity to enhance
their career, gain learning experiences, and share knowledge, skills, and abilities. The authors stressed the need for
further examination of sport management student volunteers’ psychometric characteristics.
Purpose
Previous research has examined motivation, satisfaction, and retention of volunteers in a variety of different age
groups and sport contexts. However, student volunteers within a sport management program have been overlooked
with the exception of Pierce et al. (2014). The current study was a partial replication of the aforementioned project,
as it investigated motivation and satisfaction using a similar research design. We expanded on the Pierce et al. (2014)
study by examining retention and gender differences in relation to motivation and satisfaction. Additionally,
participants from multiple institutions were recruited in order to increase external validity that is often low when
investigating participants from one homogeneous group (i.e., students from one institution). Thus, the purpose of
this study was to explore the relationship between motivation, satisfaction, retention, and gender among
undergraduate student volunteers from multiple sport management academic programs.
Method
The sample consisted of 322 undergraduate students from five Midwestern institutions, who were sport management
majors or pre-majors who volunteered as a result of being a student in a sport management program. Participants
completed a 46-item survey that required them to rate their motivation for volunteering, satisfaction with
volunteering, and intention to continue volunteering. The survey instrument was adapted from Clary et al. (1998)
and Bang and Ross (2009). The demographic variables of gender, age, ethnicity, and year in school were analyzed via
2015 North American Society for Sport Management Conference (NASSM 2015)
Ottawa, ON June 2 – 6, 2015 Page 146
descriptive statistics. The seven motivation factors (i.e., Values, Understanding, Social, Career, Protective,
Enhancement, and Love of Sport) were analyzed using measures of central tendency. Least squares multiple
regression analysis was used to predict the satisfaction and retention levels of participants based on motives. Multiple
analysis of variance (MANOVA) was used to analyze differences between the independent variable (i.e., gender) and
multiple depe