This paper describes the development of a survey instrument to assess athletics donor motivation. An extensive literature review, followed by interviews with athletics donors, identified 14 dimensions of donor motivation. Expert review and field testing of potential survey items reduced the number of dimensions of athletics donor motivation to 12. The final instrument, Motivation of Athletics Donors (MAD-1), was pilot tested with a sample of donors from 10 NCAA Division I athletics programs. Eleven scales were validated using confirmatory factor analysis, scale reliabilities (Cronbach's alpha), and item-to-total correlations. These results (a) provide the foundation necessary for systematic study of athletics donor behavior utilizing social cognitive theory as the theoretical framework, and (b) support the use of the MAD-1 as a practical instrument for assessing the specific motivations of any particular donor group.
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Validating an Instrument to Assess the Motivation of Athletics Donors
M. Elizabeth Verner, Jeffrey B. Hecht, and A. Gigi Fansler
Developing an Instrument to Measure Athletic Donor Behavior and Motivation
Ellen J. Staurowsky, Bonnie Parkhouse, and Michael Sachs
This paper emanates from a larger project consisting of three phases related to the examination of athletic donor behavior and motivation. This paper focuses specifically on the first phase of that study, which dealt with the development of an instrument to measure athletic donor behavior and motivation using a theoretical model. The Birch and Veroff (1966) paradigm of human motivation was incorporated into a research design that sought to identify the multidimensional aspects of athletic donor behavior and motivation. The Athletic Contributions Questionnaire originally developed by Billing, Holt, and Smith (1985) was revised to reflect incentive motivation factors found in the Birch and Veroff model. The revised instrument was called the ACQUIRE-II.1 One hundred randomly selected participants from each of 2 donor groups from a Division I institution and each of 2 donor groups from a Division III institution (total N=400) completed the ACQUIRE-II with a 50.5% rate of response. An exploratory principal components analysis showed that over 70% of donor motivations for giving could be explained by 6 factors: Benefits, Philanthropic, Power, Social, Success 1, and Success2.
Selecting Sport Events to Serve Public Policy Agendas
Marijke Taks and Laura Misener
In this case, a local sport tourism officer has been asked to prepare a recommendation for Evex City Council regarding which types of events the city should bid for, based on their public policy agenda of enhancing tourism for economic development purposes and stimulating sport participation for residents. A questionnaire, a codebook, and a data set from two events, an international figure skating event and a provincial gymnastics event, are provided to assist in making a decision. The data set includes the spectators’ identification with and motives for attending the events, tourism activities in which they participated, and some sociodemographic variables. Analyses of the data and interpretation of the results should assist the sport tourism officer in providing accurate recommendations to policymakers. Theories and frameworks that underpin this case include public policy schemas; identity, motives, and tourism behavior of event attendees; sport participation outcomes from sport events; leveraging; and event portfolios.
More Than Motivation: Reconsidering Volunteer Management Tools
Stacy Warner, Brianna L. Newland, and B. Christine Green
Volunteers provide an essential human resource to sport organizations. Yet measures of motivation and satisfaction have had limited impact on an organization’s ability to improve their volunteer systems. This study applied the Kano Method to categorize volunteers’ perceptions of their experience into four dimensions of satisfaction: Attractive (or Satisfiers), Must-Be’s (or Dissatisfiers), One-Dimensional, and Indifferent. Four types of volunteers (44 sport continuous, 47 sport episodic, 49 nonsport continuous, 176 nonsport episodic) completed a web questionnaire including 26-paired features of their experience, 26 motives, and five key outcome measures. Although motives were deemed important, alone they were poor predictors of key outcomes and were unrelated to satisfaction. Volunteers in the four contexts classified the 26 features in different ways. No Must-Be’s (dissatisfiers) were identified by any group. Although most features were identified as Attractive, the distribution of One-Dimensional and Indifferent features varied by context. One-dimensional items were only identified among features categorized as Supportive Culture, Clear Direction, and Contribution. These features should be prioritized as managers improve volunteer management systems. The Kano Method extends our understanding of the volunteer experience by providing researchers with a tool to distinguish the way volunteers conceptualize their experience. From a practical standpoint, it provides volunteer managers with an additional tool in their efforts to recruit and retain volunteers by prioritizing features that will most immediately impact volunteers.
Volunteer Motivation, Satisfaction, and Management at an Elite Sporting Competition
Jocelyn M. Farrell, Margaret E. Johnston, and G. David Twynam
The purpose of this study was to investigate attributes of satisfaction and motivation for volunteers at an elite sporting competition and the implications of this for effective event management, A survey of 300 volunteers was undertaken immediately following the Scott Tournament of Hearts, the Canadian Women's Curling Championship, held in Thunder Bay in March 1996, The 28- item Special Event Volunteer Motivation Scale was tested in this study, resulting in four empirically supported factors termed purposive, solidary, external traditions, and commitments. The study measured the level of satisfaction with the general volunteer experience and with specific aspects of the administrative and managerial conditions. This study found that particular attributes of the event organization and competition facility played a role in volunteer satisfaction.
Development of the Motivation Scale for Sport Online Consumption
Won Jae Seo and B. Christine Green
The Internet has become a significant tool for sport marketing. Professional sport teams’ Web sites are now an important component of their marketing mix; yet, little is know about users’ consumption motives for Web sites, particularly sport teams’ Web sites. The purpose of this study was to develop a valid, reliable instrument to measure motivation for sport online consumption. The Motivation Scale for Sport Online Consumption (MSSOC) was developed in three phases. A literature review identified 102 potential motives in Phase 1. A second, qualitative phase refined and classified the potential item pool, resulting in 67 items. Exploratory factor analysis (N = 175) was used to generate a 10-factor, 40-item scale. The revised instrument was used in a second study (N = 371). Structural equation modeling was used to confirm the factor structure of the instrument and to reduce each subscale to 3 items. The final scale consisted of 10 dimensions of motivation: fanship, interpersonal communication, technical knowledge, fan expression, entertainment, economic, pass time, information, escape, and support. Subscale internal consistency ranged from .77 to .90. All 10 dimensions were positively correlated with Web commitment (.20 < r 2 < .63), providing evidence of convergent validity. Potential uses of the scale are discussed.
Self-Efficacy of Part-Time Employees in University Athletics: The Influence of Organizational Commitment, Valence of Training, and Training Motivation
George Cunningham and Kimberly Mahoney
This study examined the impact of organizational commitment and valence on training motivation and, in turn, the impact of training motivation on posttraining self-efficacy. Data were collected from 264 part-time university athletic department employees both prior to and following a mandatory training session. Structural equation modeling indicated that organizational commitment (b = .53, p < .001) and valence (b = .26, p < .001) held positive associations with training motivation, accounting for 45% of the variance. Additionally, training motivation held a significant association with posttraining self-efficacy (b = .37, p < .001), accounting for 13% of the variance. The results demonstrate (a) salient antecedents of training motivation, and (b) the importance of training motivation in realizing training outcomes within the context of university athletic departments.
The Pursuit of Sustainability: Examining the Motivational Consumption Preferences of Online Consumers of Nonrevenue Sport Teams
Coyte G. Cooper and Richard M. Southall
Over the past few decades, college sport in the United States has increasingly adopted a commercial institutional logic when engaging in an athletics “arms race.” With decisions by some athletic directors to eliminate certain nonrevenue Olympic sport programs for spending reallocation, it stands to reason that programs such as men’s wrestling will need to enhance their revenue streams to remain viable in future years. The purpose of the study was to investigate the motivational preferences of online wrestling consumers (N = 451) to provide a core foundation for the development of strategies to enhance interest in the college-wrestling product. In addition to illustrating that online consumers responded most favorably to the sport-related wrestling motives, the data also supported the notion that the motivational preferences of consumers varied when focusing on the demographic information of participants.
For Love or Money: Developing and Validating a Motivational Scale for Fantasy Football Participation
Brendan Dwyer and Yongjae Kim
The contemporary sport fan has the ability to consume spectator sport through several means including event attendance, television and radio broadcasts, print publications, and Internet applications. Recently, an ancillary sport service, termed fantasy sports, has become one of the most popular activities among sport fans. As a result, the business of fantasy sports is booming. This study examined motivational dimensions underlying fantasy football participation from a Uses and Gratifications perspective. Utilizing Churchill’s (1979) five-step method for developing quality marketing measures, this study identified and validated three motivational dimensions: entertainment/escape, competition, and social interaction. The results suggest a pattern of fantasy football participation that is more purposeful and active than traditional media use. Discussed are the gambling associations, future research opportunities, and suggestions for developing fantasy football participation into a more creative and interactive marketing communication tool.
Motivations and Mediated Consumption Habits of Users of Mixed-Martial-Arts Online Message Boards
Terry Eddy, Lamar Reams, and Stephen Dittmore
As online business models have evolved, learning what drives users’ consumptive behaviors has gained increasing interest to sport researchers and sport properties. An increasing number of sport properties are expanding, and deriving revenues from, their presence on digital-media platforms (e.g., MLB, NBA, NFL, UFC, WWE, etc.). Of the sport properties mentioned, none are more reliant on digital-media activity than the Ultimate Fighting Championship. As such, the purpose of this study was to examine the motivations and related consumption habits of users of non-subscription-based (i.e., free-to-use) online message boards. Findings suggest that message-board users find value in the opportunities for interactivity and that heavy online mixed-martial-arts users watch more events and purchase more merchandise than those who spend less time online.