Motivational factors of volunteerism a case study of Warrens Cranberry Festival 2002 /

by Mohd Ghazali, Raslinda.

Mohd Ghazali Raslinda - (Writer)(Last Name) (First) (Initial) Motivational Factors of Volunteerism: A Case Study of Warrens Cranberry Festival 2002 (Title) Hospitality and Tourism Dr. Charles Metelka June, 2003 94 (Graduate Major) (Research Advisor) (Month/Year) (No. of pages) Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (Name of Style of Manual used in this Study) This research entails investigation of the Motivational Factors of Volunteerism: A Case Study of Warrens Cranberry Festival 2002. This festival is like many other festivals, events, or social activities around the world that proceed successfully with the help of volunteers. Their contribution is undeniable and has been perceived as important as paid employees. Many studies have been done on motivational factors and level of satisfaction of paid employees but very few for volunteers. This dissertation used a two-phase approach. Phase one of the research used the interview method, primarily an interview with one of the managers of the festival, to explore volunteers’ participation and contribution. Phase two used mail surveys and 222 sets of questionnaires were mailed out and the response rate was 33% or 73 respondents. The results indicate that the motives of volunteerism were “to contribute something good” (18.4%), “socializing with community” (15.3%), “satisfaction from accomplishment” (11.4%), “to be part of the team” (10.6%), “to help friends or relatives” (10.2%), “for fun” (9.8%), “to share skills” (7.1%), “to do something different from ordinary job” (4.7%), “to learn something new” (3.5%), “to gain leadership skills” (2.4%), “to feel needed” (2.0%), “for recognition” (1.1%), “to keep iii busy/escape” (0.4%) and “other” (3.1%). For simplification purposes, these results were regrouped into five categories such as altruism (49.0%), personal growth (21.6%), egoistic needs (14.5%), escape (5.1%) and fun (9.8%). Investigation on their satisfaction levels shows personal accomplishment has the highest mean of satisfaction (x=4.17). It was followed by team performance (x=3.92), management’s performance (x=3.67), training/orientation (x=3.26), and overall experience (x=3.97). All these findings should be able to provide support to the festival, and event organizers in general and the Warrens Cranberry Festival in particular towards the development of a better planning, execution, and evaluation process of volunteers. iv