Anything Else We Should Know About You to Be a Mega-Sport Event Volunteer? From Gender and Person???Job Fit Perspectives

Abstract

This study investigated what skills and abilities volunteer applications consider to be important when applying for a volunteer position at a mega-sports event. The results were analyzed by gender and according to person???job fit theory. Data were obtained from the online volunteer application form for the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games. Two questions were used: gender, and one of the open-ended questions that asked “Anything else we should know about you?” A total of 29,373 cases were analyzed by Leximancer. This study identified six important themes: people, experience, love, sport, current situation, and business. For female volunteer applicants, people and love were identified as the most important themes, whereas business and sport were more likely to be prominent for male volunteer applicants. This research helps event organizations develop their selection strategies to match and adjust their volunteering jobs to the needs and abilities of volunteers.