Volunteers with disabilities at the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games: Who, why, and will they do it again

Dickson, TJ; Darcy, S; Benson, A

Volunteers with disabilities at the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games: Who, why, and will they do it again

Dickson, TJ Darcy, S

Benson, A

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Publication Type:: Journal Article
Citation:: Event Management, 2017, 21 (3), pp. 301 - 318
Issue Date:: 2017-01-01

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Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Dickson, TJ	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Darcy, S https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5394-2566	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Benson, A	en_US
dc.date.available	2017-05-01	en_US
dc.date.issued	2017-01-01	en_US
dc.identifier.citation	Event Management, 2017, 21 (3), pp. 301 - 318	en_US
dc.identifier.issn	1525-9951	en_US
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/123905
dc.description.abstract	© 2017 Cognizant, LLC. People with disabilities are often the recipients of volunteer services but are rarely considered as a potential volunteer resource, such as in sport events where volunteers are an essential component of major sport event operation and legacy potential. For London's 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, there was a determined effort by the Organizing Committee to recruit people with disabilities to be Games Makers (i.e., volunteers). This exploratory research investigated 786 London 2012 volunteers who self-identified as having disability or access needs. The research design involved an online questionnaire examining their motivations for volunteering, their experiences, their likelihood to continue volunteering, and their sociodemographic profile. This article contributes to the literature by examining the motivations of people with disability volunteering at a mega-sport event, as this has not been done previously. The factor analysis identified eight components: transactional; altruistic; it's all about the games; volunteering community; rewards; availability; variety; and application. The solution highlighted the duality of human capital-related transactional components where the individual wanted to improve their skills and the altruistic components of giving back and it's all about the games experience. The discussion examined these components in comparison to other mega-event volunteers to examine commonalities and contrasts.	en_US
dc.relation.ispartof	Event Management	en_US
dc.relation.isbasedon	10.3727/152599517X14942648527527	en_US
dc.subject.classification	Sport, Leisure & Tourism	en_US
dc.title	Volunteers with disabilities at the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games: Who, why, and will they do it again	en_US
dc.type	Journal Article
utslib.citation.volume	3	en_US
utslib.citation.volume	21	en_US
utslib.for	1506 Tourism	en_US
utslib.for	1503 Business and Management	en_US
utslib.for	1504 Commercial Services	en_US
pubs.embargo.period	Not known	en_US
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/e-Press
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Business
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Business/Management Discipline
utslib.copyright.status	open_access
pubs.issue	3	en_US
pubs.publication-status	Published	en_US
pubs.volume	21	en_US

Abstract:

© 2017 Cognizant, LLC. People with disabilities are often the recipients of volunteer services but are rarely considered as a potential volunteer resource, such as in sport events where volunteers are an essential component of major sport event operation and legacy potential. For London's 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, there was a determined effort by the Organizing Committee to recruit people with disabilities to be Games Makers (i.e., volunteers). This exploratory research investigated 786 London 2012 volunteers who self-identified as having disability or access needs. The research design involved an online questionnaire examining their motivations for volunteering, their experiences, their likelihood to continue volunteering, and their sociodemographic profile. This article contributes to the literature by examining the motivations of people with disability volunteering at a mega-sport event, as this has not been done previously. The factor analysis identified eight components: transactional; altruistic; it's all about the games; volunteering community; rewards; availability; variety; and application. The solution highlighted the duality of human capital-related transactional components where the individual wanted to improve their skills and the altruistic components of giving back and it's all about the games experience. The discussion examined these components in comparison to other mega-event volunteers to examine commonalities and contrasts.

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http://hdl.handle.net/10453/123905