The Impact of Internal Marketing Activities on Mandatory Volunteers in Sport: A Case from the 2019 Military World Games in China

Abstract

Mandatory volunteering may contribute to creating lifelong volunteers for the society and building social/human capital for individuals (Huang et al., 2009). However, it is possible that mandatory volunteering may not lead to greater intention to volunteer when they feel being forced to participate in volunteering (i.e., reluctance theory; Helms, 2013) or if they do not have a pleasant volunteering experience (Karl et al., 2008). Although the majority of involuntary volunteers are supportive of their mandatory volunteer experience after actual volunteering (Henney et al., 2017), they are more likely to volunteer again if they feel appreciated and connected to the mission of the sport event, and trained well for their volunteer tasks. In this regard, the concept of internal marketing can be applied to mandatory volunteers to improve volunteer outcomes, such as job satisfaction and greater motivation to provide better service (Bennett & Barkensjo, 2005).