Organisational Commitment and Committee Turnover of Volunteers in Sport

Abstract

Almost one-third of all volunteer work in Australia takes place in sport and recreation organisations and much of this work is on committee or management tasks. Despite moves towards professionalisation and the employment of paid staff, many sporting organisations have problems with retention of volunteers. Organisational commitment has been found to be an important predictor of job performance, absenteeism and turnover in paid employment, but has not been studied extensively in voluntary associations. This article reports the findings of a study of the development of organisational commitment in relation to perceptions about the committee functioning amongst a sample of volunteer administrators. Organisational commitment and committee functioning are also examined as predictors of committee turnover amongst volunteers over a 12 month period. The article concludes with some policy and management implications for voluntary association committees and committee members.