Match quality, crowding out, and crowding in: empirical evidence for German sports clubs

Abstract

AbstractVolunteering can be interpreted as a process of search. Using novel data from an online questionnaire study of volunteers of German sports clubs, we constructed a match quality index (MQI) that measures the outcome of this search process: the congruence of motives for doing volunteer work and the utility experiences derived from volunteer work. The MQI is higher on average for volunteers who would increase their work effort provided their sports club receives additional public subsidies or other volunteers increase their work (crowding-in effect). The MQI is also higher on average for volunteers who would increase their work effort in case other volunteers decrease their work (crowding-out effect). Furthermore, the MQI exhibits a positive correlation with volunteer satisfaction, labour supply, and volunteers’ confidence that they meet the requirements of their volunteer positions. The MQI is positively correlated with a bridging, but also with a bonding component of social capital.