You never can say ‘goodbye’: valuing and enhancing episodic re-volunteering

Abstract

Research on evidence-based volunteer management, especially regarding episodic volunteering, is limited. Thus, we examine the influence of individual traits of event volunteers and the management practices employed by non-profit organisations on their likelihood to engage in future events. First, we revisit the value of episodic volunteering within the framework of regenerative volunteer management. We then compare factors affecting the inclination of event volunteers to re-volunteer for the same or for a different organisation based on a path analysis of 10,148 survey responses from event volunteers in 19 countries. Previous episodic volunteer experience, responsiveness, appreciation from supervisors and satisfaction with the event experience increase the probability that event volunteers will re-volunteer for both the same and different organisations. Moreover, assistance, service quality and comfort contribute indirectly by enhancing satisfaction with the volunteer experience. Effective management of event volunteering replenishes a valuable volunteer resource for both event organisers and other non-profit organisations.