Characterizing volunteers in sporting mega events: the case of the Fifa soccer world cup in South Africa

Abstract

Mega sporting events need a number of activities to be properly coordinated if they are to be successful. These events require large numbers of human resources and invariably reliance is heavily on volunteers. Essentially, volunteers form the backbone in accomplishing the mega event logistics. Despite the foregoing, little research has characterized volunteers in sporting mega events from a South African perspective. This study addressed this issue by establishing university students’ important motivational factors in terms of gender and gender with respect to age. To collect data, the 40-item Motivational Factors in Sport Volunteering Scale was used. In all 425 participants with ages ranging between 18 years and 25 years, responded fully to the administered instrument. Results indicated that similar numbers of females and males reflected the same motives for volunteering. This finding was replicated in terms of gender and age. A significant contribution of this study was the fact that it provides event managers with a better understanding with regards to who to attract, place and retain for mega sporting event volunteers.