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Managing voluntary sport organizations to facilitate volunteer recruitment
Karsten Østerlund*
Center for Sports, Health and Civil Society, Institute for Sports Science and Clinical Biomechanics, University of Southern Denmark, Denmark
(Received 19 December 2011; accepted 5 August 2012)
The majority of voluntary sport organizations find it difficult to recruit volunteers, and many even regard volunteer recruitment as their main challenge. Against this background, this paper investigates management characteristics that can facilitate volunteer recruitment. Building on theory and using the scarce empirical data on the management of sport organizations, five hypotheses are formulated and subsequently tested against a large survey study on volunteering in Danish sport organizations. The results provide support for all of the five hypotheses with regard to the recruitment of volunteers for both formal positions and ad hoc tasks. Hence, in order to facilitate volunteer recruitment, sport organizations can generally be recommended to: (1) involve members in major decisions, (2) delegate decision-making and tasks across multiple committees and volunteers, (3) recognize volunteers by granting them perks and material incentives, (4) formulate a specific strategy describing how to recruit volunteers, and (5) employ electronic modes of communicating.
Keywords: voluntary sport organizations; volunteering; volunteer recruitment; nonprofit; management
Voluntary work is the most vital resource for voluntary sport organizations 1
in
Denmark and the other Nordic countries. In fact, most sport organizations are run
exclusively or primarily on a voluntary basis. The recruitment and retention of
volunteers is, therefore, essential to their survival and success (Enjolras & Seippel,
2001; Ibsen, 2006; Ibsen & Seippel, 2010; Lundström & Wijkström, 1997; Selle,
Lorentzen, & Wollebæk, 2000; Svedberg, von Essen, & Jegermalm, 2010). In most
cases, sport organizations succeed in recruiting a sufficient number of volunteers to
manage their day-to-day operations and to ensure their long-term survival. However,
many report that it is a difficult task to recruit volunteers. When directly asked what
the main obstacle or challenge is for voluntary sport organizations, the most frequent
response is that it is the task of recruiting a sufficient number of volunteers (Breuer &
Wicker, 2010; Ibsen, 2006; Seippel, 2004).
In Denmark, the task of recruiting volunteers is stated as the main challenge by a
quarter of all sport organizations � a proportion that has remained stable from 1989 to 2004 (Ibsen, 2006). This indicates both that many sport organizations find it difficult to
recruit volunteers, and that it has not become increasingly difficult during this period.
*Email: [email protected]
European Sport Management Quarterly, 2013
Vol. 13, No. 2, 143�165, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/16184742.2012.731074
# 2013 European Association for Sport Management
Since the work of volunteers constitutes the most vital resource for sport organizations,
perhaps the claim of recruitment being the greatest challenge merely reflects
organizations’ pressing need to obtain the primary resource that allows them to survive.
In previous research on volunteering there is some indication that the ways in which voluntary sport organizations are managed influence their ability to recruit
volunteers (Enjolras & Seippel, 2001; Heinemann & Schubert, 1994; Ibsen, 1992).
Unfortunately, these results are mentioned as side notes to main results in general
studies on volunteering. The management perspective has often been neglected in
both general studies on volunteering and studies dealing exclusively with voluntary
organizations (Pearce, 1993; Schulz, 2005). There is, therefore, a great need to
elaborate on the relatively scarce existing data and theoretical discussions to better
understand how management influences volunteer recruitment and to examine how these results relate to the context of the voluntary sport sector in Denmark.
The aim of this paper is to study volunteering in sport organizations from a
management perspective. The hypothesis is that the way voluntary sport organiza-
tions are managed exerts significant influence on the level of difficulty in recruiting
volunteers. Specifically, five hypotheses regarding the influence of management style
on volunteer recruitment will be tested against data from a large survey study on
volunteering in Danish sport organizations.
First, the main characteristics of the voluntary sport sector in Denmark are briefly described. Core results from general studies on volunteering in sport
organizations are examined to elaborate on the main explanatory variables for
voluntary work and the current state of knowledge on volunteering in sport
organizations. Theoretical contributions and empirical studies dealing more speci-
fically with the management of sport organizations are then introduced to gain
insight into how different management styles influence volunteer recruitment.
Building on theory and empirical data, five hypotheses regarding the influence of
management style on volunteer recruitment are continually formulated. Following the hypothesis formulation, data and methods are briefly introduced, and subse-
quently the hypotheses are tested empirically. Finally, the paper reflects on how to
interpret the results in order to provide insight into how to manage voluntary sport
organizations to facilitate volunteer recruitment.
The voluntary sport sector in Denmark
As in the other Nordic countries, Denmark has a relatively large voluntary sector in comparison with most other European countries, especially when measured by the
number of voluntary sector organizations, members, and volunteers (Curtis, Baer, &
Grabb, 2001; McCloughan, Batt, Costine, & Scully, 2011). A study from 2004
estimates that there is a total of about 52,000 voluntary organizations in Denmark
and that approximately a quarter of these are sport organizations (Ibsen & Boje,
2006). Furthermore, the study shows that almost a third of all volunteers do
voluntary work within sport organizations, and that four out of five sport
organizations are run exclusively by volunteers. In the one-fifth of sport organiza- tions with paid staff, it is most often coaches and instructors, who are paid, and
usually these organizations have volunteers working alongside paid staff. In fact, in
most instances volunteers clearly outnumber paid staff even in these organizations
(Koch-Nielsen, 2005). Hence, the ability to recruit and retain volunteers is crucial to
144 K. Østerlund
the vast majority of sport organizations within the voluntary sport sector in
Denmark.
Structurally, the voluntary sport sector in Denmark is primarily organized under
two main umbrella organizations: one with roots in the 1860s rifle shooting and gymnastics movement (Danish Gymnastics and Sport Associations, DGI), and the
other with roots in the 1880s sport movement (The Danish Sports Confederation
and Olympic Committee, DIF) (Ibsen & Seippel, 2010). Half of all sport
organizations are members of both umbrella organizations, and 9 out of 10 are
members of at least one of the two. Both umbrella organizations have grown rapidly,
especially throughout the twentieth century, which reflects the general increase in the
number of sport organizations and members in that period (Ibsen, 2006).
Most voluntary sport organizations in Denmark are relatively small. Half of them have fewer than 100 members, and less than a fifth have more than 300
members. Furthermore, approximately two-thirds are single-sport organizations that
offer only one sport, while the remaining one-third are multisport organizations
(Ibsen, 2006). In relation to this paper’s focus on management, it is worth bearing
these structural characteristics in mind, as they form the framework for the
management of voluntary sport organizations in Denmark.
Existing knowledge on factors affecting the nature and scope of voluntary work
The picture painted by general studies on volunteering in sport organizations on
factors affecting the nature and scope voluntary work is rather complex. In fact, as
Seippel (2002, p. 264) argues, the results first and foremost show that ‘there are many
factors explaining sport organizations’ respective dependency on voluntary and
professional work,’ and this ‘clearly shows how complex the question of voluntary
work in sport organizations has become.’ A high degree of diversity in the population
of sport organizations is the primary cause of this complexity and an important reason for the challenge in identifying only a few main explanatory variables for
voluntary work.
What most studies, however, do agree on is that the size of a sport organization,
measured as total number of members, and the branch of sport it deals with are two
main explanatory variables for the nature and scope of voluntary work. Generally,
the larger an organization, the fewer volunteers there are relative to the total
membership and the higher the proportion of paid staff relative to volunteers
(Enjolras & Seippel, 2001; Heinemann & Schubert, 1994; Ibsen, 1992). It has proved more difficult to quantify branch of sport, but Ibsen found that organizations that
oversee narrow branches of sport, understood as branches of sport with relatively
few active athletes in Denmark as a whole, have more volunteers relative to the total
membership, and a lower proportion of paid staff relative to volunteers, than
organizations overseeing ballgames or larger individual sports 2
(Ibsen, 1992, 1999).
Besides these main results, as stated above, the studies from Denmark, Norway,
and Germany do not agree on other variables that may influence the nature and
scope of voluntary work even though they stem from countries with relatively similar organized sport structures (Ibsen, 1992). In a Danish context, Ibsen (1992) found
that voluntary work depended on the degree of homogeneity in the membership, the
aim of the organization and its autonomy. In a German context, Heinemann and
Schubert (1994) found age of organization and degree of urbanization to be the main
European Sport Management Quarterly 145
explanatory variables. And, in a Norwegian context, Enjolras and Seippel (2001)
found the influential factors to be degree of homogeneity in the membership, the aim
of the organization and whether it is single-sport or multisport in its structure.
The results presented above represent the current state of knowledge on factors affecting the nature and scope of voluntary work in sport organizations in Denmark,
Norway, and Germany. In these studies, although operationalized in several different
ways, the nature and scope of volunteering has primarily been measured as: the
number of volunteers relative to the total membership in each organization, and the
proportion of paid staff relative to volunteers. Using these quantitative measures as
dependent variables, as illustrated above the studies have shed light on a number of
important factors to be taken into account when explaining differences in voluntary
work across the diversity of sport organizations. These factors will therefore be taken into account later in this paper, where the impact of management style on volunteer
recruitment is examined. In line with the focus of this paper, however, the self-
reported ability of sport organizations to recruit volunteers will be applied as
dependent variable.
The purpose of this paper is not to replicate the aforementioned studies on
volunteering, but rather to address an important limitation, namely that manage-
ment has so far only to a very limited degree been included in the analyses. The
rationale for involving the management perspective is, firstly, that it does not seem far-fetched to suggest that the way a sport organization is managed influences its
ability to recruit volunteers, and, secondly, that findings in this area will be applicable
to sport organizations who report that they find it difficult to recruit volunteers.
How to manage voluntary sport organizations to facilitate volunteer recruitment
In order to understand the framework in which management takes place in voluntary
sport organizations, it is essential to understand some of their key characteristics. On that note, Ibsen (1992), inspired by Heinemann and Horch (1981), sets out seven
characteristics of an ideal-typical voluntary sport organization: (1) membership is
voluntary; (2) the organization is target-specific and goal-oriented; (3) the organiza-
tion has an obligation to serve members’ interests; (4) decision-making structures are
democratic; (5) the organization is independent from the state and the market; (6)
activities within the organization are primarily oriented toward members; and (7)
voluntary work is the primary resource for the organization. These characteristics
indicate that voluntary sport organizations are in many respects different from profit-oriented organizations, and this has various implications for management.
Furthermore, Ibsen underlines that these characteristics also differentiate sport
organizations from various other nonprofit organizations (Ibsen, 1992).
Unlike profit-oriented organizations, most voluntary sport organizations are
dependent on volunteers to do most or all of the work. This is relevant in relation to
management, as managing volunteers is, according to most of the literature on this
subject, in many respects very different from managing paid staff (Cuskelly, Hoye, &
Auld, 2006; Enjolras & Seippel, 2001; Harris, 1998; Heinemann & Horch, 1981; Heinemann & Schubert, 1994; Ibsen, 1992; Pearce, 1993; Schulz, Nichols, & Auld,
2011; Thiel & Mayer, 2008). Essentially, volunteering is a leisure activity and, as
opposed to paid work, people engage in it more of their own free will. Consequently,
‘volunteers are not as dependent on their organizations as are employees, and their
146 K. Østerlund
independence [. . .] leads to less volunteer subordination to the system of organiza- tional behavior’ (Pearce, 1993, p. 128). This does not necessarily mean that
volunteers are less reliable than paid staff; in fact, some of them are extremely
loyal. Their loyalty, however, is often contingent upon somewhat of an alignment
between volunteer interests and values on the one hand and organizational objectives
on the other (Cuskelly et al., 2006). In order to recruit volunteers, therefore, it is
important for voluntary sport organizations to be somewhat in sync with members’
interests, especially since sport organizations, at least in a Nordic context,
predominantly recruit volunteers from among the existing membership (Enjolras
& Seippel, 2001; Ibsen, 1992). One way of establishing a certain level of consistency between members’ interests
and organizational objectives is by ensuring that the respective sport organizations
are based on well-functioning democratic membership rules and decision-making
procedures. Building on the ideal-typical characteristics of voluntary sport organiza-
tions described above, decision-making is generally embedded in a democratic
framework and takes place on the basis of democratic rules and norms. This, at least
ideally, ensures some level of member influence on organizational decision-making.
Formally, members are entitled to be involved in decision-making at the general
assembly, which is normally held once a year. Here, board members are chosen
among and by the participating members, and some broad guidelines for action are
adopted (Ibsen, 2006; Seippel, 2010). Apart from the general assembly, there can be
great variation in the degree to which members are involved in decision-making
across the range of voluntary sport organizations (Schulz, 2005). In most cases,
however, sport organizations are dependent on member fees and voluntary work,
and the need to obtain these resources limits the degree to which boards make
autonomous decisions without any regard to members’ interests (Ibsen, 1992).
Nevertheless, the variation in the degree to which voluntary sport organizations
involve members in decision-making is interesting in relation to volunteer recruit-
ment, as member involvement is one way of generating some level of alignment
between organizational objectives and members’ interests. Prior studies of volunteer-
ing indicate that such an alignment has a positive impact on the recruitment of
volunteers (Guldbrandsen, 2009; Ibsen, 1992). This leads to the first hypothesis of
this study:
Hypothesis 1: The more sport organizations involve members in decision-making, the easier they find the task of recruiting volunteers.
Member involvement in organizational decision-making is, however, not the only
aspect of management that influences volunteer recruitment. In fact, Slack and
Parent (2006), in their analysis of the main elements of organizational structure in
sport organizations, mention centralization as an important aspect. They argue that
there is some debate as to how the term can be defined, but, broadly speaking, they
characterize a centralized organization as one where most decisions are made at the
top level of the organization’s hierarchy. Conversely, in a decentralized organization,
a lot of decisions are delegated to lower levels of the hierarchy.
Relating this definition to the context of voluntary sport organizations, and
focusing on day-to-day management, a sport organization with a centralized
decision-making structure can be defined as one where the board alone makes
European Sport Management Quarterly 147
most decisions. Conversely, in a decentralized organization, decision-making power
is delegated to individual volunteers or groups of volunteers with the freedom to
manage their own area of responsibility.
Slack and Parent (2006) argue that decentralization can enhance the motivation
of staff and volunteers in sport organizations because they are granted a certain level
of decision-making authority. Their argument is based on empirical evidence from
sport organizations that are significantly larger than most Danish voluntary sport
organizations, but it is nevertheless substantiated by studies on volunteering from
Denmark and Germany. Along the line of the argument of Slack and Parent, these
studies indicate that a decentralized decision-making structure is appealing to
volunteers. A high degree of autonomy generally seems to enhance the motivation of
volunteers, who value the freedom to reside over their own area of expertise
(Heinemann & Schubert, 1994; Ibsen, 1992; Thiel & Mayer, 2008). This gives rise to
the second hypothesis:
Hypothesis 2: The more sport organizations delegate decision-making powers among a number of volunteers and committees, the easier they find the task of recruiting volunteers.
Another aspect of management with relevance to the recruitment of volunteers is
the tendency of sport organizations to recognize the contribution of volunteers and
to offer material incentives in return for voluntary commitment. Studies have shown
that volunteers are motivated by both altruism and self-interest (Habermann, 2007),
and that volunteer motivations are ‘complex and multifaceted’ (Cuskelly et al., 2006,
p. 5). Nevertheless, parts of the literature on volunteering argue that voluntary
organizations can improve volunteer recruitment and retention by actively recognizing
the contribution of their respective volunteers (Cuskelly et al., 2006; Pearce, 1993;
Tedrick & Henderson, 1989). Recognition can take different forms ranging from, for
instance, simple praise or other verbal recognition to specific actions to reward
volunteers and volunteer benefits. Tedrick and Henderson (1989) regard praise and
verbal recognition as significant and meaningful ways of recognizing volunteers’
contributions, but at the same time they argue that occasional activities and perks are
also suitable ways of recognizing volunteers, and that such physical manifestations of
recognition have positive effects on volunteer recruitment and retention.
Recognition is primarily relevant to the retention of volunteers, as it is a way for
sport organizations to show appreciation to the current teams of volunteers. As
mentioned earlier, however, most volunteers in Danish sport organizations are
recruited among existing members or parents of members. They will in many
instances already have some level of knowledge about their respective sport
organizations and the level and form of recognition provided for volunteer efforts.
So, indirectly, recognition of volunteers is relevant to volunteer recruitment.
Furthermore, some sport organizations, in an effort to attract volunteers, not only
recognize the effort of current volunteers, but they also provide material incentives
for potential volunteers. It is important to underline that recognition and material
incentives alone do not provide members with sufficient reason to volunteer. Their
motivations are generally far more complex. It is, however, a way for sport
organizations to provide members with an additional incentive to volunteer, and,
hence, it can help facilitate volunteer recruitment.
148 K. Østerlund
The effect of recognition and material incentives in relation to volunteer
recruitment has only to a very limited degree been empirically tested in voluntary
sport organizations. The scarce empirical research indicates, however, that recogniz-
ing volunteers with perks and offering material incentives in return for voluntary
commitment can help motivate members to take on voluntary work (Thiel & Mayer,
2008). This leads to the formulation of the third hypothesis:
Hypothesis 3: The more sport organizations provide perks and material incentives in return for voluntary commitment, the easier they find the task of recruiting volunteers.
Within large parts of the literature on organization theory, the use of strategies is
generally acknowledged as a managerial instrument that can strongly influence the
success of organizations (Miles & Snow, 1978; Mintzberg, 1980). Using a widely
accepted definition, Chandler (1962, p. 13) describes strategy as ‘the determination
of the basic long-range goals and objectives of an enterprise, and the adoption of
courses of action and the allocation of resources necessary for carrying out these
goals.’ As the definition implies, formulating and adopting a strategy is not only a
matter of setting goals and objectives generally or within a specific area, such as
volunteer recruitment. It is important also to describe courses of action to achieve
these goals and to allocate the necessary resources to achieve them.
A very formal way of thinking about strategy, like the one described above, stems
from the world of profit-oriented organizations. It can seem somewhat distant from
the day-to-day management in most voluntary sport organizations, which quite often
relies on ad hoc responses to emerging challenges rather than specific and deliberate
strategies (Robinson & Palmer, 2011; Thibault, Slack, & Hinings, 1993; Watt, 2003).
This conclusion is presumably even more evident in most of the Danish voluntary
sport organizations included in this study, as they are generally smaller and have a
lower proportion of paid staff than the sport organizations studied by the above
referenced authors.
Perhaps the limited use of strategy is the reason why there have been only few
studies on the use of strategy in the management of voluntary sport organizations.
Thibault et al. (1993), however, represent an exception. They build on organization
theory and argue that the use of strategy is not only relevant to profit-oriented
organizations, but also to the success of voluntary sport organizations in general and
specifically with regard to volunteer recruitment. At the same time, they argue that
there is not one best way of strategizing across the population of voluntary sport
organizations. Therefore the formulation of any successful strategy must take into
account the specific structure and situation of the individual organization. It is worth
bearing in mind that the work of Thibault et al. is done with Canadian national sport
organizations as subject field. These organizations are larger than most of the
Danish voluntary sport organizations in this study, and they have a higher
proportion of paid staff. Hence, one could hypothesize that the sport organizations
in the work of Thibault et al. are more likely to be able to successfully draw up and
implement a strategy.
Based on the above mentioned empirical research, the question is whether the
Danish voluntary sport organizations in this study can benefit from having a strategy
regarding volunteer recruitment. Since the sport organizations in the above
mentioned studies do not fully resemble the sport organizations in this study, we
European Sport Management Quarterly 149
cannot be sure of this. Nevertheless, the research results presented here are in sync
with much of the literature on organization theory connecting the use of strategy to
organizational success. Hence, the results lead to the formulation of the fourth
hypothesis:
Hypothesis 4: The more sport organizations tend to operate with a conscious strategy describing how to recruit volunteers, the easier they find the task of recruiting volunteers.
The fifth and final hypothesis regarding management included in this study deals
with another important aspect of management � communication. More specifically, the focus is on the degree to which voluntary sport organizations use selected
electronic modes of communicating with members and volunteers, and the impact
this has on volunteer recruitment. The purpose of highlighting electronic modes of
communicating is not to neglect the significance of direct verbal or nonverbal
communication between organization leaders, volunteers, and members. This form
of communication is at least equally relevant to volunteer recruitment and retention as electronic communication. Nevertheless, given that more or less all sport organizations
use direct verbal and nonverbal communication, albeit in different ways and with
varying degrees of success, singling out electronic communication seems justified.
Electronic communication, at least when it is established, can be regarded as a
relatively cheap and efficient way for an organization to communicate with various
different stakeholders, whether they be volunteers, members or perhaps residents in a
specific locality. Thus, electronic modes of communicating, when used in the right
way, can constitute an effective tool in both the recruitment of potential members and volunteers and in the retention of existing members and volunteers (Watt, 2003).
The effects of using electronic modes of communicating on volunteer recruitment
have so far not been very well examined. Nevertheless, the scarce empirical research
indicates that organizations embracing electronic modes of communicating, like
SMS/MMS and Facebook, have achieved greater efficiency in their communication
with members, volunteers and the general public: all positive factors leading to an
easier recruitment of volunteers (Guldbrandsen, 2009). Furthermore, a recent study
from England shows that sport organizations can advantageously use social networks like Facebook and Twitter to reach potential volunteers (Runningsports,
2012). Hence, the fifth hypothesis builds on these results and states that:
Hypothesis 5: The more sport organizations employ electronic modes of communicating with members and volunteers, the easier they find the task of recruiting volunteers.
All five hypotheses regarding the influence of management style on volunteer recruitment have now been presented. Later in the paper, they will be tested against
the background of the survey study presented in the following section.
Data and methods
Sampling procedure
The data applied in this paper were collected by a Danish web-based survey
conducted in voluntary sport organizations in the autumn of 2010 by the Centre for
150 K. Østerlund
Sports, Health and Civil Society, University of Southern Denmark in cooperation
with Danish Institute for Sport Studies. All voluntary sport organizations that, at the
time of the survey, were members of the largest of the two bodies for organized sport
in Denmark, DIF, were included in the study. Each questionnaire was completed by
the chair or other relevant contact person on the board in the respective
organizations. Hence, answers to nonfactual questions reflect their attitudes and
interpretations.
Overall, the questionnaire was sent to a total number of 10,325 voluntary sport
organizations. Five thousand two hundred and three organizations responded to the
questionnaire, yielding a response rate of 50.4%. Taking into account the size of the
questionnaire (37 questions), and the completion of the questionnaire by voluntary
leaders in their spare time, the response rate must be regarded as satisfactory.
Sample representativeness
There are some deviations in respondent type in relation to the population of
voluntary sport organizations in Denmark as a whole. First, about 25% of voluntary
sport organizations in Denmark are not members of DIF (Ibsen, 2006), and
therefore did not have the opportunity to participate in this study. 3
Second, among
the sport organizations that are members of DIF and therefore included in the
study, the ones that chose to respond to the questionnaire are on average
significantly larger than the sport organizations that chose not to participate in
the study. 4
In fact, the response rate inclines slightly with size of organization.
Particularly the smallest organizations with fewer than 50 members have answered
less frequently, and, hence, they are somewhat underrepresented. They do, however,
still make up almost a third of the total number of responding organizations. If we
regard voluntary sport organizations who are members of DIF as the population of
the study, the data are therefore largely representative.
Questionnaire
Volunteering was the primary focus of the questionnaire, but it also covered other
topics such as the organizations’ activities, member groups, management style,
economy, facilities, and cooperation with other stakeholders. The survey had a broad
focus and therefore cannot provide an exhaustive number of indicators regarding
management in voluntary sport organizations. It does, however, provide a starting
point for further, more elaborated studies on this topic.
In relation to the topic of this paper, three batteries with questions were
relevant. First, one battery with 11 questions regarding volunteer recruitment
formed the background for the two dependent variables. Second, one battery with
four questions regarding the management style of the respective sport organiza-
tions formed the background for the first four hypotheses. Third, one battery
with six questions regarding the use of different electronic modes of communicat-
ing with members and volunteers formed the background for the fifth and
final hypothesis. The application of these questions is examined in more detail
below.
European Sport Management Quarterly 151
Dependent variables
In the survey, the organizations were asked to indicate on a five-level Likert scale
ranging from ‘very difficult’ to ‘very easy’ how they found the task of recruiting
volunteers for 11 different tasks or positions. More specifically, they were asked the
question: ‘How easy/difficult is it for the organization to recruit volunteers/unpaid
for the following positions/tasks?’: (1) coach for children and adolescents, (2) coach
for adult recreational athletes, (3) coach for most skilled competitive athletes, (4)
chair, (5) treasurer, (6) secretary, (7) board member, (8) committee member, (9) ad
hoc committee member, (10) ad hoc parental tasks, and (11) other ad hoc tasks.
As stated earlier, the answers to the questions like the ones above reflect the
attitudes and interpretations of the respondents answering the questionnaire, mainly
the chair. An advantage of this is that the answers directly reflect how easy or
difficult the recruitment procedure is experienced by a central figure like the chair.
On the other hand, the answers reflect this particular person’s attitude and might not
fully reflect the attitude of other people working with volunteer recruitment in the
organization. Nevertheless, as a measure for perceived ease or difficulty recruiting
volunteers, the questions seem to be well-suited for the purpose of this paper,
provided that we can trust the answers from the chairs to be representative for the
sport organizations in the study.
The answers to the questions regarding volunteer recruitment reflected that the
voluntary sport organizations in this study mainly found it difficult to recruit
volunteers regardless of position or task. For all 11 voluntary tasks a larger
proportion of sport organizations found it ‘difficult’ or ‘very difficult’ to recruit
volunteers relative to the proportion that found it ‘easy’ or ‘very easy.’ At the same
time, the answers showed that positions such as chair and treasurer were the most
difficult to recruit volunteers for followed by coaching positions for children and
adolescents. In contrast, the ad hoc tasks were, relatively speaking, significantly
easier to recruit volunteers for.
Eight of the positions (1�8) included in the questionnaire were formal in the sense that they normally require a long-term commitment by volunteers, while three
involved more time-limited or ad hoc voluntary tasks (9�11). In some textbooks on volunteering, formal and ad hoc volunteers are treated as different types of
volunteers with different motives for volunteering. Therefore, they are not necessarily
to be recruited in the same way (Cuskelly et al., 2006). In order to take this difference
into account and to find out whether some management styles are more appealing to
one kind of volunteer than the other, the effect of the five hypotheses regarding
management style in sport organizations will be tested separately on both formal and
ad hoc volunteers.
In order to make this analytical distinction in the data, indexes reflecting the
mean value of answers were constructed to match the two categories of formal
positions and ad hoc tasks, respectively. 5
In Table 1, the mean value and standard
deviation for the two constructed indexes, regarding the recruitment of volunteers for
formal positions and ad hoc tasks, respectively, are presented. The value three at the five-point Likert scale reflects the neutral answer (neither
easy nor difficult to recruit volunteers), and, as we can see from Table 1, the mean
index values are lower than three for both formal and ad hoc positions. This indicates
that voluntary sport organizations, in accordance with evidence from previous
152 K. Østerlund
research, mainly find it difficult to recruit volunteers. The figures, however, also show
that for ad hoc positions the mean index value of 2.91 is relatively close to the neutral
answer, whereas for formal positions, the value is somewhat lower (2.61). This
reflects that it is significantly easier for a sport organization to recruit volunteers for
ad hoc tasks than for formal positions. 6
The standard deviations of 0.85 for formal
positions and 0.92 for ad hoc positions show that there is some spread in the
variables. This indicates that even though sport organizations mainly find it difficult
to recruit volunteers, there are also a number of sport organizations that find it easy.
Independent variables
Four of the five independent management variables are derived from respondents
classifying their organization between two statements on different ends of a spectrum
representing two contradictory statements on how to manage a sport organization.
More specifically, they were asked the question: ‘In the following series of questions,
we ask you to choose between two contradictory statements about how your sport
organization is managed. Please tick the answer that you feel matches your
organization.’ As with the questions used as dependent variables, the answers to
these questions reflect the attitudes and interpretations of the respondents with the
advantages and disadvantages that follow from using this method described earlier.
The statements behind each of the four management variables are presented in
Table 2 together with the mean value of answers, which is between 1, for those who
strongly agree with statement A, and 5, for those who strongly agree with statement
B, and the standard deviation. The fifth independent management variable is not
included in Table 2, as it is derived somewhat differently from the questionnaire. It is
therefore treated separately later. As the index values show, the average voluntary sport organization in Denmark is
managed in a way that is somewhat in opposition to what was hypothesized
previously in this paper as the ideal way to manage an organization in order to
appeal to volunteers. Two features are particularly evident. First, only a minority of
the organizations mainly agree that they have a strategy for recruiting volunteers
(mean value �1.93). Second, a majority of the organizations indicate that the board alone makes most of the decisions (mean value �2.28).
It is worth noting, however, that there is some spread in the standard deviations
for all of the variables in Table 2, suggesting that answers are dispersed along the
continuum between statement A and B for all of the four variables. This indicates
that the general tendencies described above conceal large variations in the manage-
ment style among the sport organizations included in this study.
Table 1. Descriptive statistics of the dependent variables.
Positions Mean index value Standard deviation n
Formal positions 2.61 0.85 4494
Ad hoc tasks 2.91 0.92 4282
Note: The mean index values reflect how easy or difficult sport organizations are finding the task of recruiting volunteers on a scale from 1 (very difficult) to 5 (very easy).
European Sport Management Quarterly 153
The fifth independent management variable is concerned with the organizations’
tendency to use electronic modes of communication. In the questionnaire, the
respondents were asked to indicate how frequently their organizations used the six
following modes of communicating with members and volunteers: email, own
website, SMS/MMS, Facebook and/or other social media, electronic newsletter/club
magazine, and internet forum and/or web-based message board. More specifically,
the respondents were asked the question: ‘How often does your sport organization
use the following modes of communicating with members and volunteers/unpaid?’
Respondents were asked to report their answers on a three-level Likert
scale ranging from 1 ‘rarely/never’ to 3 ‘often’ for each of the six modes of
communication.
Based on the reported use of the six modes of electronic communication
presented above, a formative index was constructed. 7
The purpose of creating this
index is to generate a measure that captures various different modes of electronic
communication instead of focusing exclusively on one or a few selected measures.
The index does not necessarily capture all aspects of electronic communication. It
does, however, provide us with a measure of the organizations’ tendency to employ
some selected electronic modes of communication that are relevant to sport
organizations.
Table 2. Descriptive statistics for four out of five of the independent management variables.
Variable
Statement A
(value �1) Statement B
(value �5) Mean
value
Standard
deviation n
Tendency to
involve
members in
major decisions
The board alone
makes most major
decisions
The board aims to
involve organization
members in all major
decisions
2.93 1.28 4312
Tendency to
delegate
decision-
making and
tasks
The board alone
decides most of what
is going to happen in
the organization
Most tasks and
decisions are delegated
to multiple committees
and individuals
2.28 1.43 4327
Tendency to
recognize
volunteer work
with perks and
material
incentives
The organization
commends it
volunteers, but does
not do anything
special for them
The organization
provides perks and
material incentives in
return for voluntary
commitment
2.99 1.25 4271
Tendency to have
a strategy
describing how
to recruit
volunteers
The organization
attempts to recruit
new volunteers when
needed, but it does not
have a conscious
strategy
The organization has a
conscious strategy
describing how to
recruit volunteers
1.93 1.10 4259
Note: The table displays four management variables, the two statements behind each variable, and the mean index value of answers, which is a result of respondents placing themselves on a five-level Likert scale ranging from 1, for those who strongly agree with statement A, to 5, for those who strongly agree with statement B.
154 K. Østerlund
There are some variations in the degree to which the sport organizations in this
study use the various modes of electronic communication included in the fifth
management variable. The mean index value of answers is 1.83 with a standard
deviation of 0.44. Among other things, this indicates that some of the electronic modes of communicating are rarely used. Perhaps not surprisingly, the most
frequently applied electronic modes of communicating is own website and email,
which more than half of the organizations indicate they often use, whereas Facebook
and/or other social media is used often by less than 1 in 10 organizations.
Background variables
Since the questionnaire that forms the background for this paper includes a lot of other topics than management and volunteer recruitment, it seems fruitful to control
for the effect of some selected background variables. The variables are chosen on the
basis of the previous studies on volunteering presented earlier. These studies showed
how a number of different factors influence the nature and scope of volunteering.
Only variables that one or more of the previous studies on volunteering have shown
to exert significant influence on the nature and scope of voluntary work have been
included, but some are left out, as they were not included in this study, or because
they could not be operationalized in a sufficiently meaningful way. The background variables included in this study are: size of organization, single-
sport vs. multisport organization, age of organization, degree of member homo-
geneity based on age, and degree of urbanization. They are included to ensure that
correlations between independent management variables and the dependent variables
are not merely reflections of the influence from background variables.
Data analysis
Data analysis will include a multivariate analysis on how the independent manage-
ment variables influence the dependent variables. Each of the five hypotheses
presented earlier in the paper will be tested in an ordinary least squares (OLS)
multiple linear regression framework.
Results
Following the descriptive analysis of dependent and independent variables, the focus now shifts to testing if and how the management style of voluntary sport
organizations influence the degree to which they are finding it challenging to recruit
volunteers. The multivariate analysis not only includes the five management
variables, but also other selected background variables. The complete causal model
that will be tested is presented in Figure 1.
The regression analysis is carried out as a blockwise regression in the sense that
two models are tested on the two dependent variables concerning the recruitment of
volunteers for formal positions and ad hoc tasks, respectively. 8
Model 1 includes only the independent management variables. Model 2 includes both the independent
management variables and the independent background variables. The rationale
behind including both models is to study if and how the background variables
influence the correlations between the independent management variables and the
European Sport Management Quarterly 155
dependent variables tested in model 1 as presented in Figure 1. The results from the
multivariate analysis are presented in Table 3.
If we start by looking at the bivariate correlations, all of the independent
management variables exert statistically significant influence on volunteer recruit-
ment in the direction predicted by the five hypotheses. Hence, all of the hypotheses
seem to be justified, but with some variation in the magnitude of the correlations and
level of significance.
Next, if we look at the correlation coefficients in model 1, where all the
independent management variables are included, all but one of the management
variables, the tendency to delegate tasks, remain significant. Hence, the tendency to
delegate tasks does not significantly influence how challenging the sport organiza-
tions in this study find the task of recruiting volunteers for formal positions when
controlling for the other four management variables. This indicates a spurious
association between the tendency to delegate tasks and the recruitment of volunteers
for formal positions. 9
Finally, if we look at the results from model 2, all the independent management
variables once again influence the recruitment of volunteers for both formal
positions and ad hoc tasks significantly. This shows that the associations between
management and volunteer recruitment are relatively robust to influence from the
selected background variables, with the exception of the association between the
tendency to delegate tasks and the recruitment of volunteers for formal positions. In
model 1, the association was insignificant, but in model 2, it once again becomes
significant. 10
In fact, the background variables facilitate the association between four
out of five of the independent management variables and volunteer recruitment for
both formal and ad hoc positions. The only exception is the tendency to involve
members in major decisions, where the regression coefficients drop from model 1 to
model 2 for both dependent variables.
INDEPENDENT VARIABLES (BACKGROUND VARIABLES)
INDEPENDENT VARIABLES (MANAGEMENT VARIABLES)
DEPENDENT VARIABLES
Figure 1. Causal model showing the hypothesized relationship.
156 K. Østerlund
Table 3. Results from the multiple regression analysis.
Dependent variables are
indexes with a range from
1 to 5 Formal positions Ad hoc tasks
Independent variables
Bivariate corre-
lations
Model 1
Main effects
Model 2
Full model
Bivariate corre-
lations
Model 1
Main effects
Model 2
Full model
MAN 1: Tendency to involve
members in major decisions
(1�5)
0.066*** (0.011) 0.064*** (0.011) 0.034** (0.011) 0.061*** (0.012) 0.055*** (0.012) 0.046*** (0.012)
MAN 2: Tendency to delegate
decision-making and tasks
(1�5)
0.036** (0.012) 0.019 (0.012) 0.040*** (0.012) 0.082*** (0.013) 0.065*** (0.013) 0.071*** (0.013)
MAN 3: Tendency to
recognize volunteer work
with perks and material
incentives (1�5)
0.023* (0.012) 0.025* (0.012) 0.044*** (0.012) 0.045*** (0.013) 0.043*** (0.013) 0.047*** (0.013)
MAN 4: Tendency to have a
strategy describing how to
recruit volunteers (1�5)
0.061*** (0.015) 0.043** (0.015) 0.054*** (0.015) 0.070*** (0.016) 0.045** (0.016) 0.048** (0.016)
MAN 5: Tendency to use
electronic modes of
communicating
(1�3)
0.125*** (0.036) 0.083* (0.036) 0.088* (0.036) 0.143*** (0.039) 0.084* (0.039) 0.090* (0.040)
Size of organization (total
number of members)
0.000 (0.000) 0.000 (0.000) 0.000 (0.000) 0.000 (0.000)
Single-sport (1) vs. multisport
organization (2)
�0.173*** (0.035) �0.091* (0.035) �0.041 (0.038) �0.044 (0.039)
Age of organization (number
of years)
�0.004*** (0.000) �0.004*** (0.000) �0.001** (0.000) �0.001** (0.001)
E u
ro p
e a
n S
p o
rt M
a n
a g e m
e n
t Q
u a
rte rly
1 5
7
Table 3 (Continued )
Dependent variables are
indexes with a range from
1 to 5 Formal positions Ad hoc tasks
Independent variables
Bivariate corre-
lations
Model 1
Main effects
Model 2
Full model
Bivariate corre-
lations
Model 1
Main effects
Model 2
Full model
Proportion of members aged
18 or below (percentage,
0�100)
�0.004*** (0.000) �0.004*** (0.001) �0.001* (0.001) �0.002** (0.001)
Degree of urbanization
(1�6) 0.026** (0.010) 0.002 (0.010) �0.009 (0.010) �0.022* (0.011)
Constant 2.080*** (0.083) 2.427*** (0.098) 2.251*** (0.090) 2.465*** (0.108)
Adjusted R 2
0.02 0.07 0.03 0.03
N 3042 3042 2940 2940
Note: Regression coefficients included in the table are nonstandardized. *pB0.05; **pB0.01; ***pB0.001.
1 5
8 K
. Ø
ste rlu
n d
Taken together, the associations between management and volunteer recruitment
are, nevertheless, mainly robust to control for the selected background variables in
the sense that they remain significant regardless of whether or not the background
variables are included. Hence, the management of sport organizations does, indeed,
influence how challenging the organizations find the task of recruiting volunteers.
This is interesting, as it provides support for the conclusions from theory and
previous empirical research results. It does so when tested on a population of voluntary sport organizations that is significantly larger than the ones used in the
Danish, Norwegian and German studies on volunteering presented earlier in the
paper 11
.
Departing from this general conclusion, it is worth looking more closely at some
of the interesting nuances in the results. Particularly the sizes of the effects from the
independent management variables, reflected by the regression coefficients in Table
3, seem fruitful to examine more closely. It generally seems that the isolated effects
from each of the five management variables on volunteer recruitment are relatively
modest. This indicates that, not surprisingly, there are factors other than manage-
ment style that influence the appeal to a volunteer of a sport organization. This is
further substantiated by looking at the R 2
values, which are relatively low with
regard to the recruitment of volunteers for both formal positions and ad hoc tasks.
However, it has not been the purpose of this study to capture all the explaining
factors with regard to volunteer recruitment, as this is a very complex task. The
purpose has been to single out the management aspect and study the effect of management style on volunteer recruitment. The relatively low R
2 values along with
the relatively modest regression coefficients indicate that sport organizations, in
order to make it easier to recruit volunteers through changes in management style,
need to make changes in multiple aspects of management, for instance in the various
areas suggested in this study.
Even though the isolated effects from each of the five independent management
variables are relatively modest, it is worth taking a closer look at some of the
differences between the five variables. Generally, the effect of the fifth management
variable, concerning the use of electronic modes of communicating, is somewhat
larger than the effect of the rest of the management variables. This, however, might
have to do with differences in scale, as the fifth management variable only ranges
from 1 to 3, while the rest of the variables range from 1 to 5.
When comparing the sizes of the effects from the remaining four variables, some
relatively small but notable differences between the recruitment for formal and ad
hoc positions are worth mentioning. First, and most notably, the tendency to delegate tasks is a stronger prediction of the recruitment for ad hoc tasks than formal
positions. One possible explanation for this difference is that a sport organization,
which delegates tasks on multiple volunteers and committees, creates a culture where
ad hoc volunteering becomes more common and accepted. Second, it seems as if
recognizing volunteer work with perks and material incentives is a slightly stronger
prediction of the recruitment for ad hoc tasks than formal positions. This could
reflect that volunteers in formal positions to a lesser extent than volunteers in ad hoc
positions are motivated by perks and material incentives and more by other forms of
recognition or altruistic motives. These two differences are the most notable, as they
are consistent regardless of which model the coefficients are derived from. This
indicates that generally the same management style appeals to both volunteers in
European Sport Management Quarterly 159
formal positions and ad hoc tasks, but also that some aspects of management seem
to be more appealing to one type of volunteer than the other.
Discussion and conclusion � ‘managing for volunteers’ This paper has contributed to the literature on volunteering in sport organizations by
showing how various aspects of management influence the level of difficulty
experienced by sport organizations in relation to the recruitment of volunteers.
More specifically, five hypotheses dealing with different aspects of management were
substantiated by the results from this study with regard to the recruitment of
volunteers for both formal positions and ad hoc tasks. 12
The isolated effects from each of the five independent management variables are, however, relatively modest. This indicates, first, that there are other factors than
management style that influence volunteer recruitment. Second, it suggests that sport
organizations in order to experience a noticeable effect on volunteer recruitment have
to make changes in various aspects of management. Nevertheless, it is, based on the
findings in this study, possible to design a best management practice for voluntary
sport organizations with a desire to facilitate the recruitment of volunteers for both
formal positions and ad hoc tasks. In accordance with the hypotheses, sport
organizations can generally be recommended to aim to:
(1) Involve organization members in major decisions
(2) Delegate decision-making and tasks across multiple committees and indivi-
duals
(3) Recognize volunteers by granting them perks and material incentives
(4) Formulate a specific strategy describing how to recruit volunteers
(5) Employ electronic modes of communicating with members and volunteers.
These recommendations are relatively straightforward to understand, but what are
the implications? First, involving members in major decisions and delegating
decision-making and tasks indicates that an inclusive management style facilitates
the recruitment of volunteers, because it is more likely than a centralized decision-
making structure to create a feeling of an alignment between member interest and
organizational objectives. Such an alignment can help facilitate volunteer
recruitment, because most volunteers in sport organizations are recruited among
the existing membership. The inclusive management style facilitates the recruit- ment of volunteers, whether for formal positions or ad hoc tasks, but it is a
stronger prediction for the recruitment of volunteers for ad hoc tasks. Hence, it
seems to create a culture where ad hoc volunteering becomes more common and
accepted.
Across the diverse population of sport organizations, there will undoubtedly be
large differences in the way this general advice is most advantageously implemented.
Small sport organizations are already more inclined than large organizations to
involve members in major decisions. Conversely, large sport organizations are more inclined than small organizations to delegate tasks and decision-making on multiple
committees and volunteers. This study indicates that more member involvement and
more decentralization are generally positive features for sport organizations. One
could, however, hypothesize that further, more elaborate studies on this topic is likely
160 K. Østerlund
to uncover differences in the degree to which both features are positive for sport
organizations depending on structural characteristics such as organization size,
branch of sport, degree of professionalization, and member composition.
Second, the recommendation to facilitate volunteer recruitment by granting perks
and material incentives to volunteers reminds us that volunteers are not solely
motivated by altruism, but also by self-interest. According to the literature presented
earlier, providing perks and material incentives is nevertheless only to be regarded as
a way to provide members with an additional incentive to volunteer. Furthermore,
the results from this study indicate that it is a stronger prediction for the recruitment
of volunteers for ad hoc tasks than formal position, indicating, perhaps, that
volunteers in formal positions are to a lesser extent than ad hoc volunteers motivated
by perks and material incentives and more by other forms of recognition or altruistic
motives. Further studies could advantageously examine more closely differences
between the impact of various forms of recognition on volunteer recruitment for
both formal positions and ad hoc tasks.
Third, the results from this study show that only a minority of voluntary sport
organizations in Denmark have a conscious strategy describing how to recruit
volunteers, even though this clearly facilitates the recruitment of volunteers for both
formal positions and ad hoc tasks. Within organization theory, the use of strategy is
generally acknowledged as a managerial instrument that can strongly influence the
success of organizations. In the words of Chandler (1962), formulating and adopting
a strategy are not only a matter of setting goals and objectives, but also to describe
courses of action to achieve these goals and to allocate resources to achieve them. We
cannot know whether the volunteer recruitment strategies of the sport organizations
in this study meet the criteria of Chandler’s definition. Furthermore, we cannot
separate good strategies from bad strategies, which could potentially mean that bad
strategies cloud the effects of good strategies. Further studies on the use of strategy
in sport organizations would be useful in examining how elaborate the existing
strategies are, and, in addition, what characterizes good strategies and bad strategies,
respectively.
Fourth, we know from the literature presented earlier that good communication
between a sport organization and its members and volunteers facilitates volunteer
recruitment. This generalized point is confirmed by this study, where electronic
modes of communicating with members and volunteers were singled out. It seems, in
fact, that the more a sport organization embraces electronic modes of communicat-
ing, the easier it is for the organization to recruit volunteers for both formal and ad
hoc positions. At the same time, the results indicate that especially when it comes to
social networks such as Facebook, there is further potential. Facebook and other
social media are only used by a minority of the sport organizations in this study, even
though, building on evidence from an English study presented earlier, particularly
the social medias are effective ways of reaching potential volunteers.
Nevertheless, one should be careful to generalize too much when it comes to the
use of electronic modes of communicating as a recruitment tool. Member
composition will undoubtedly play an important role for the effect of this modern
way of communicating. Further studies on the use of electronic modes of
communicating in sport organizations could advantageously examine not only
which electronic modes of communicating with members and volunteers that
European Sport Management Quarterly 161
facilitate volunteer recruitment, but also how these forms of communication are best
used. The above discussions clearly indicate that this study has both its strengths and
limitations. It is strong in the sense that it tests the influence of various management
styles on volunteer recruitment on a large and representative sample of Danish
voluntary sport organizations. The results are therefore highly generalizable across
the population of sport organizations in Denmark and most likely also the
population of sport organizations in countries with organized sport structures
similar to the Danish. Furthermore, the recommendations stemming from this study
is relatively straightforward to understand, and they will therefore be directly
applicable to sport organizations with a desire to make it easier to recruit
volunteers.
At the same time, the recommendations are, however, formulated in relatively
broad terms and therefore leave room for interpretation. This reflects that the
indicators used to examine management are not derived from a specific ques-
tionnaire on management, but a general questionnaire on volunteering in sport
organizations, where management were included as one among several perspectives.
Ideally, the questionnaire would have contained multiple and possibly more precise
indicators on management, but perhaps this study can be the predecessor for such a
questionnaire. Certainly, the results from this study provide useful information in
designing such a more elaborate questionnaire. The strengths and limitations of this study reflect that it is in many ways a first
attempt to study the influence of management on volunteer recruitment, at least in
the mainly small voluntary sport organizations included in this study. It builds on the
limited literature and few empirical research results stemming primarily from larger
and more professionalized sport organizations to examine the validity of these results
when applied to a large population of mainly small sport organizations. By doing
this, the study has brought about useful information on management in these kinds
of organizations, but at the same time the subject raises a number of questions for
further research. More specifically, at least two kinds of studies would be
appropriate. First, quantitative studies dealing specifically with management and
volunteering in sport organizations could be helpful to elaborate on and perhaps
provide detail for some of the main points of this study. Second, qualitative studies
would be helpful to examine the causal mechanism between management style and
volunteer recruitment.
Finally, it is worth mentioning that the scope of this paper has been rather narrow
with a specific focus on management in relation to volunteer recruitment. However,
in practice there are a lot of other factors that organizations must take into account
in relation to management. Even though this study provides some evidence that in
order to ‘manage for volunteers’, it can be advantageous to delegate tasks and to
have an inclusive management style, this could potentially be associated with a
reduced degree of efficiency in, for instance, goal achievement. There are, therefore,
numerous considerations to take into account in relation to the management of
voluntary sport organizations. The job of balancing the management advice from
this paper against other considerations is ultimately the responsibility of the
respective sport organizations.
162 K. Østerlund
Acknowledgements
The author has received fruitful comments to previous versions of this article from Kari Steen- Johnsen, Ørnulf Seippel, Malene Thøgersen, and Bjarne Ibsen.
Notes
1. The focus of this paper is on the mainly small Danish voluntary sport organizations, which I could also have called sport clubs or voluntary associations. None of these terms are wrong or directly misleading, but I have chosen the word organization to underline a main point of this study � that organization theory is relevant not only to large sport organizations, for instance, sport federations, but also to the local and mainly small sport organizations included in this study.
2. In Ibsen’s terminology, ballgames connote activities most often carried out in teams and often with a main focus on the activity in itself. Larger individual sports on the other hand cover a number of sports carried out individually often with a main focus on the exercise aspect of the activity. For further details on Ibsen’s differentiation between three types of sport clubs, see Ibsen 1999, pp. 253�254.
3. Typically, organizations that are not members of DIF are smaller and less competitive than the organizations that are members of DIF (Ibsen, 2006).
4. The sport organizations that chose to answer the questionnaire on average have 179 members, whereas the sport organizations that chose not to answer on average have 141 members. A t-test showed this difference to be significant (pB0.001).
5. More specifically, the indexes were constructed using the mean value of answers for formal positions (1�8) and the mean value of answers for ad hoc positions (9�11). Hence, the indexes have the same scale as the original variables, but reflect an average across the various positions included in each index (formal and ad hoc). Furthermore, the Cronbach’s alpha values for the two indexes were computed with the following result: formal positions (0.902) and ad hoc positions (0.845).
6. A t-test showed the difference between the recruitment for ad hoc tasks and formal positions to be significant (pB0.001).
7. More specifically, the index was constructed using the mean value of answers for each of the six electronic modes of communicating. Hence, the index has the same scale as the original variables, but reflects an average across the various electronic modes of communicating.
8. The models were tested in an OLS multiple linear regression framework. Beforehand, the assumptions of linear regression were tested, and no serious violations were found.
9. Further analyses show that when including each of the management variables MAN 1, 3, 4 and 5 separately together with MAN 2, each of these management variables reduce the effect of MAN 2 on volunteer recruitment for formal positions. It is, however, especially the inclusion of MAN 1 that reduces the effect of MAN 2 on volunteer recruitment. Hence, it seems that the direct and indirect effects of MAN 1 on volunteer recruitment reduce the effect of MAN 2 on volunteer recruitment significantly.
10. Specifically for the association between the tendency to delegate tasks and the recruitment of volunteers for formal positions, further analyses show that all of the five background variables facilitate the association. Each background variable was included separately in the regression analysis together with the five independent management variables to identify the effect from each background variable on the association. Using this method, the effects from the following three background variables were found to most markedly facilitate the association between the tendency to delegate tasks and volunteer recruitment for formal positions: single-sport vs. multisport organization, age of organization, and proportion of members aged 18 or below.
11. The Danish study by Ibsen (1992) included answers from 178 sport organizations, the Norwegian study by Enjolras and Seippel (2001) included answers from 294, and the German study by Heinemann and Schubert (1994) included answers from 4087.
European Sport Management Quarterly 163
12. With the reservation that the association between the tendency to delegate tasks and the recruitment of volunteers for formal positions was not robust to the inclusion of the other management variables.
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