Individual and contextual determinants of stable volunteering in sport clubs

This article addresses factors that influence voluntary sport club (VSC) members’ loyalty to voluntary engagement. The question asked is an issue of VSC volunteers’ commitment whether they decide to quit or continue their engagement. A multilevel approach was used that considered both individual characteristics of volunteers and corresponding contextual features of VSCs to analyse members’ voluntary commitment. Different multilevel models were estimated in a sample of 477 volunteers in 26 Swiss and German VSCs. Results indicated that members’ stable voluntary activity is not just an outcome of individual characteristics such as having children belonging to the club, strong identification with their club, positively perceived (collective) solidarity and job satisfaction. In addition to these factors, the findings confirm the significance of the contextual level. Stable volunteering appears to be more probable in rural VSCs and clubs that value conviviality. Surprisingly, the results reveal that specific measures to promote volunteering have no significant effect on voluntary commitment in VSCs.