Organisational Commitment as a Predictor of Committee Member Turnover among Volunteer Sport Administrators: Results of a Time-Lagged Study

Abstract

Many sport organisations that rely on the services of volunteers experience difficulties in the retention of their volunteer labour force. Organisational commitment has been demonstrated to be a significant predictor of task performance, absenteeism and turnover among employees in work organisations. Using a time-lagged research design, the purpose of this study was to examine the temporal influence of organisational commitment and perceived committee functioning in predicting committee member turnover behaviour among volunteers in community sport organisations. Data from a one-year, three-wave longitudinal study of volunteer administrators (N = 262) were used in a discriminant function analysis. It was found that organisational commitment and perceptions about committee functioning measured closest to the time that turnover occurred, were significant but not strong predictors of whether a volunteer stayed with or left the committee of their organisation. It was concluded that organisational commitment was a stronger predictor of turnover than perceived committee functioning, particularly when measured at a point closer to when the turnover occurred, and that organisational commitment may moderate the influence of perceived committee functioning on volunteer turnover behaviour.