A systematic quantitative review of volunteer management in events

Abstract

Most event organizations rely on the commitment of volunteers to prepare for and stage events. An attempt to understand factors that affect volunteers' engagement and retention has received much attention from a substantial number of published studies. This article provides a systematic quantitative review of 71 original, peer-reviewed research articles published in English language academic journals on volunteer management in events. The review examines the nature of the research, methods, key concepts and theories, and types of research questions posed in studies associated with volunteer management in events. Published studies on event volunteer management are geographically concentrated in several countries but published in 35 different journals across a range of fields. Volunteer management in events has been the focus of rapidly increasing research attention in recent years with almost two thirds of the articles included in the review published in the 6 years leading to 2014. The majority of published research has not clearly articulated a theoretical framework and most studies have used survey methods to collect data from volunteers at mega-sport events. It was concluded that to advance knowledge of event volunteer management there is a need for increased collaboration internationally between researchers. Moreover, it is essential to engage with relevant theory in order to better understand and predict the effectiveness of volunteer management strategies in recruiting, retaining, and building a sense of community among volunteers in events.