Volunteer motivation in special events for people with disabilities

Abstract

activities that volunteers engage in are as varied as the volunteers themselves and their value to the events they contribute and society as a whole remains immeasurable. Understanding the underlying motives which drive those who volunteer has long been of interest to those researching and working alongside volunteers and is a recurring theme preoccupying much of the literature on volunteering. There has been little research attention in the South African context on volunteer motivation for special events for people with disabilities. This study explored the key factors that motivated volunteers to volunteer their services at three major sport events for people with disabilities in South Africa. A 28-item questionnaire was administered to volunteers of three special sport events for people with disabilities. Analyses were performed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS – version 17). Principal component analysis (PCA) was conducted on the data. This produced a 4-factor model which accounted for 61.47 % of the overall variance in the scale item scores. The factors were external influence and free time (7 items), interaction and achievement (5 items), altruism (5 items) and diversion (4 items). The study found that the main reason for volunteering was to make a contribution to the community and help make the event a success. Emanating from the findings implications for further research and recommendations were made.

Keywords: Volunteer, motivation, motives, special events.