Volunteers' Perceived Costs and Benefits: The Impact of Context and their Influence on Volunteers' Satisfaction and Behavioral Intentions

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to investigate if the perceived benefits and costs of volunteering are congruent among nonprofit organizations and for-profit sport events and how they influence volunteers' satisfaction and behavioral intentions. By means of a survey, data from the German Championships in Gymnastics (n = 51) and a tournament of the German Gymnastics Federation (n = 74) plus data from eight nonprofit sport clubs (n = 115) were collected. The findings are underpinning the rationale of social exchange theory from a theoretical perspective. Volunteer managers should be aware that perceived costs and benefits differ between club and event volunteers. Social capital drives behavioral intentions of event volunteers, but not behavioral intentions of club volunteers.