Behavioural characteristics of student volunteers

Sport and sport events provide a significant source of volunteering opportunities for a wide range of individuals and especially for young people. Organisers of major sport events often target the youth market to source volunteers due to the apparent high level of interest in sport by this group. Consequently, it is suggested that sport may act as a nursery for volunteering and therefore the experiences afforded to young people in sport may be critical for their future volunteer involvement, not only in sport but the broader third sector. However, little is known about youth volunteer behaviour. This study sought to identify the characteristics and volunteer behaviour of a cohort of tertiary students, reasons for those behaviours and the implications for sport event managers. A total of 208 self-administered questionnaires were completed in an in-class convenience sample from three universities in Brisbane. The results indicated that although many reasons that influence the decision to initially volunteer or to subsequently cease volunteering are personal in nature and cannot be directly controlled by organisations, there are a number of factors that can be influenced by management. These factors are generally concerned with the way that volunteers are trained and managed and are particularly focused on the nature of the work, quality of supervision and perceived outcomes such as gaining employment related skills. These factors should influence the way volunteer experiences are planned and delivered to the youth market.