Event and community involvement of sport event volunteers

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the potential interrelationship between different types of volunteer involvement (event involvement and community involvement) and their impact on the behavioural intentions of different types of events. Design/methodology/approach By means of a survey, data from an one-off sport event ( n =316), including volunteer tourists, and from annual sport events ( n =278) in Germany were collected. Structural equation modelling was employed for data analysis. Findings Findings show that event involvement and community involvement are significantly correlated. Both influence future behavioural intentions for one-off events. But only event involvement and not community involvement influences behavioural intentions for annual events. Research limitations/implications The findings are underpinning the rationale of social identity theory from a theoretical perspective. Practical implications Volunteer managers learn that not only the volunteers’ involvement with event organisations, but also with the community (i.e. hosting destination) seems to be a key contributor of behavioural intentions and should therefore be fostered during the recruitment process and prior to the event. Originality/value This study is the first to compare involvement with two objects for different types of events. Therefore, this study adds to the rare literature looking at different event types in which an individual can volunteer.