The Impact of the China Open 500 Event on Sense of Community: Comparisons of Volunteers’ Pre- and Post-Event Perceptions

Abstract

Volunteers at major sporting events have become a key element for the success of these events. Therefore, the organiser should know exactly those aspects that strengthen the bond between the sports volunteer and the event. The aim of the present research was to assess the change in volunteers’ perception of community feeling at the China Open 500 tennis tournament. The sample was selected by using a purposive non-probability sampling procedure with a 99% confidence interval and a sampling error of 0.5% (n = 805). The data collection tool was the structured questionnaire applied through a face-to-face personal survey of volunteers before and after the event. The proposed structural model for the perceived community feeling of the China Open 500 volunteers was confirmed via a second-order factor analysis. The results confirmed the existence of the six proposed factors: Administrative Consideration, Common Interests, Equity in Administrative Decisions, Leadership Opportunity, Social Spaces, and Competitiveness. The change in the volunteers’ sense of community from the training phase to after the event shows that there is a direct link between a sense of community and the volunteer experience.