IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsoctx/v15y2025i4p80-d1621403.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Volunteer Management in Sports Tourism Events: Motivation and Satisfaction as Drivers for Repeat Participation

Author

Listed:
  • Hélio Antunes

    (Department of Physical Education and Sport, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Madeira, 9020-105 Funchal, Portugal
    Centre for Tourism Research, Development and Innovation (CITUR), 9020-105 Funchal-Madeira, Portugal
    Research Center in Sports Sciences, Health Sciences and Human Development (CIDESD), 5001-801 Vila Real, Portugal)

  • Ana Rodrigues

    (Department of Physical Education and Sport, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Madeira, 9020-105 Funchal, Portugal
    Centre for Tourism Research, Development and Innovation (CITUR), 9020-105 Funchal-Madeira, Portugal
    Research Center in Sports Sciences, Health Sciences and Human Development (CIDESD), 5001-801 Vila Real, Portugal)

  • Bebiana Sabino

    (Polytechnic Institute of Beja, Higher Education School, 7800-000 Beja, Portugal
    SPRINT, Sport Physical Activity and Health Research & INnovation CenTer, 2040-413 Rio Maior, Portugal)

  • Élvio Gouveia

    (Department of Physical Education and Sport, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Madeira, 9020-105 Funchal, Portugal
    LARSYS, Interactive Technologies Institute, 9020-105 Funchal, Portugal
    Swiss Center of Expertise in Life Course Research LIVES, 1227 Carouge, Switzerland
    CIPER, Faculty of Human Kinetics, University of Lisbon, 1495-751 Lisbon, Portugal)

  • Helder Lopes

    (Department of Physical Education and Sport, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Madeira, 9020-105 Funchal, Portugal
    Centre for Tourism Research, Development and Innovation (CITUR), 9020-105 Funchal-Madeira, Portugal
    Research Center in Sports Sciences, Health Sciences and Human Development (CIDESD), 5001-801 Vila Real, Portugal)

Abstract

Effective volunteer management in sports tourism events depends on understanding motivations, segmenting profiles, and fostering satisfaction to ensure continuity and event success. The purpose of this study was to examine volunteer motivation, investigate differences in motivation based on gender and age, and identify key predictors of the intention to continue volunteering. The sample consisted of 390 participants (199 men, 191 women) aged from 18 to 68 who volunteered for the Madeira Island Ultra Trail (MIUT) and completed a survey one week following the event. Seven motivational dimensions were assessed using a questionnaire: community participation, personal development, job opportunities, volunteering tradition, esteem, egoism, and personal experiences. The results show that community participation (4.00 ± 0.79) and personal experiences (3.62 ± 0.82) were the most valued motivations, while job opportunities were the least valued (2.04 ± 1.05). Gender differences were found in some dimensions, with women generally rating motivations higher, except for job opportunities. Age also influenced motivation, with younger participants (<35 years) showing higher ratings for most dimensions. A multiple linear regression analysis identified community participation (ß = 0.311; p < 0.001), personal experiences (ß = 0.289; p < 0.001), egoism (ß = −0.215; p = 0.006), volunteering tradition (ß = 0.126; p = 0.023), and age (ß = 0.133; p < 0.001) as significant predictors of the intention to repeat volunteering. The findings highlight the role of volunteers in promoting the event and the region as a sports tourism destination, emphasizing the importance of volunteer retention for event and destination success.

Suggested Citation

  • Hélio Antunes & Ana Rodrigues & Bebiana Sabino & Élvio Gouveia & Helder Lopes, 2025. "Volunteer Management in Sports Tourism Events: Motivation and Satisfaction as Drivers for Repeat Participation," Societies, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-13, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsoctx:v:15:y:2025:i:4:p:80-:d:1621403
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4698/15/4/80/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4698/15/4/80/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Wang Zhigang & Liu Yingfei & Zhang Jinyao & Liu Xintao & Duan Hongyan & Zhang Lei, 2022. "How Sports Event Volunteer Management Affects Volunteers’ Satisfaction and Engagement: The Mediating Role of Social Capital," SAGE Open, , vol. 12(2), pages 21582440221, June.
    2. Alexander, Amanda & Kim, Sung-Bum & Kim, Dae-Young, 2015. "Segmenting volunteers by motivation in the 2012 London Olympic Games," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 1-10.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Niki Koutrou & Athanasios (Sakis) Pappous & Anna Johnson, 2016. "Post-Event Volunteering Legacy: Did the London 2012 Games Induce a Sustainable Volunteer Engagement?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(12), pages 1-12, November.
    2. Niki Koutrou, 2018. "The Impact of the 2010 Women’s Rugby World Cup on Sustained Volunteering in the Rugby Community," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(4), pages 1-20, March.
    3. Pierpaolo D’Urso & Livia Giovanni & Marta Disegna & Riccardo Massari & Vincenzina Vitale, 2021. "A Tourist Segmentation Based on Motivation, Satisfaction and Prior Knowledge with a Socio-Economic Profiling: A Clustering Approach with Mixed Information," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 154(1), pages 335-360, February.
    4. Baker, Bradley J. & Du, James & Sato, Mikihiro & Funk, Daniel C., 2020. "Rethinking segmentation within the psychological continuum model using Bayesian analysis," Sport Management Review, Elsevier, vol. 23(4), pages 764-775.
    5. Heesup Han & Soyeun Lee & Sunghyup Sean Hyun, 2020. "Tourism and Altruistic Intention: Volunteer Tourism Development and Self-Interested Value," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(5), pages 1-14, March.
    6. Leelanayagi Ramalingam & Juwaidah Sharifuddin & Zainal Abidin Mohamed & Fazlin Ali, 2018. "Community Garden Programme: The Volunteers’ Satisfaction," International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, Human Resource Management Academic Research Society, International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, vol. 8(5), pages 436-443, May.
    7. Thomas Giel & Christoph Breuer, 2020. "The determinants of the intention to continue voluntary football refereeing," Sport Management Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(2), pages 242-255, April.
    8. Salvador Angosto & Hyejin Bang & Gonzalo A. Bravo & Arturo Díaz-Suárez & José María López-Gullón, 2021. "Motivations and Future Intentions in Sport Event Volunteering: A Systematic Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(22), pages 1-18, November.
    9. Mateusz Rozmiarek & Joanna Poczta & Ewa Malchrowicz-Mośko, 2021. "Motivations of Sports Volunteers at the 2023 European Games in Poland," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-14, June.
    10. Mateusz Rozmiarek, 2024. "Research Trends in Sports Volunteering: A Focus on Polish Contributions to Global Knowledge," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(19), pages 1-14, September.
    11. Antonio Muñoz-Llerena & Salvador Angosto & Carlos Pérez-Campos & Virginia Alcaraz-Rodríguez, 2025. "A Systematic Review of Volunteer Motivation and Satisfaction in Disability Sports Organizations," Disabilities, MDPI, vol. 5(2), pages 1-33, March.
    12. Tao Ye & Xiaoyu Cheng & Wei Chen & Yanyan Li, 2022. "Volunteer Motivations in Military Sports Events: The Case of 2019 Military World Games," SAGE Open, , vol. 12(2), pages 21582440221, June.
    13. Wicker, Pamela, 2017. "Volunteerism and volunteer management in sport," Sport Management Review, Elsevier, vol. 20(4), pages 325-337.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsoctx:v:15:y:2025:i:4:p:80-:d:1621403. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.