Volunteering at the Olympic and Youth Olympic Games

Ondertitel:More Than a Distant Memory?

In recent years, cities have shown an interest in using the hosting
of sport mega-events as a leverageable resource in realizing
long-term impacts for individual volunteers. However, previous
research has provided limited evidence of the realization of anticipated
impacts in the post-event period. This study focuses on the
long-term impacts of Olympic and Youth Olympic volunteering in
terms of memory, attitudes, and behaviors. Data were collected
from a sample of 353 volunteers who have been involved with
the 2008 Beijing Olympic and Paralympic Games, the 2010
Singapore Youth Olympic Games, and the 2014 Nanjing Youth
Olympic Games. Results show that volunteers can easily access
their Olympic and Youth Olympic memory, with vivid, emotional,
and visual details, while the overall tone of their volunteer memory
is positive over a long period. Volunteering at the Olympic
and Youth Olympic Games can be understood as a positive lifechanging
event and participants have reported high scores on
the attitudes in terms of the interest in the Olympic Movement.
Findings reveal that the sharing of the memory by volunteers and
the time perspective have been found to contribute significantly
to broader impacts in terms of attitudes about the Olympic
Movement and subsequent volunteer behaviors. Implications for
sport mega-event volunteer management are discussed.

Jaar van publicatie:2023

Trefwoorden:Volunteering, Youth Olympic Games

Toegankelijkheid:Closed