Defining and Measuring Dimensionality and Targets of the Commitment of Sport Volunteers

The organizational commitment of volunteers has been recognized as essential for the effective management of community-based sport. Despite this, little is known about the nature of sport volunteer commitment and, more specifically, its dimensionality and targets. This study developed measures of sport volunteer commitment within a framework of multiple dimensions of commitment and multiple targets of commitment to three organizational targets in the sport volunteering setting: the organization (in this context, the athletic center), the volunteer work team, and the volunteer role. Drawing on Meyer and Herscovitch’s (2001) general commitment model, we adapted measures from previous work of Engelberg, Skinner, and Zakus (2006) of commitment to each of these targets and tested the proposed model using partial least squares regression (PLS) modeling. Results provided support for a two-dimensional model within and across each of the targets, and also showed that the measures had adequate discriminant validity and reliability. Implications for research on volunteer commitment in sport organizations are discussed.