Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to understand the motivations of college students to volunteer for international events in the context of China; to design, modify the volunteer motivation scale for measuring the young volunteers; and to compare the motivations between volunteers in China and western society.
Keywords
Citation
Qiao, G. and Zhang, H. (2020), "Exploratory research on college students’ motivations to volunteer – a case of international events hosted in China", Tourism Critiques, Vol. 1 No. 1, pp. 35-46. https://doi.org/10.1108/TRC-03-2020-0003
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2020, Guiqiang Qiao and Hongyue Zhang.
License
Published in Tourism Critiques: Practice and Theory. Published by Emerald Publishing Limited. This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) license. Anyone may reproduce, distribute, translate and create derivative works of this article (for both commercial and non-commercial purposes), subject to full attribution to the original publication and authors. The full terms of this license may be seen at http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/legalcode
Introduction
Chinese volunteers as a distinct social group, not only create economic value but also illustrate a number of important social and spiritual values. In Beijing, volunteer work was estimated as having a monetary value of up to RMB 116.5bn in 2015, approximately about 0.5% of the city’s GDP (Guan and Zhang, 2018). In 2017, the country’s number of registered volunteers reached 67 million and their service time exceeded 810 million hours (Wang, 2017). In addition to the economic contributions, volunteers are also valuable in terms of civic spirit, social integration, lifelong learning, healthy living and coping with ageing (Kearney, 2002).
Differing from other countries, the volunteers in China tend to be younger; and the proportion of volunteers under 35 is close to 50%. Among them, college student volunteers are an important and active component. They provide major volunteer services for various international events, such as the Olympic Games, World Expo, the G20 Summit in Hangzhou and the World Internet Conference. In 2008, among the 74,615 volunteers for the Beijing Olympic Games, 90.7% of them were under 35 years old, and most were college students based in or around Beijing (Zhang and Zhou, 2008). During the Shanghai World Expo, the main body of volunteers was basically the same with 79,965 university student volunteers serving on-site for more than 10 million hours (Shanghai World Expo, 2010). Similarly, the World Internet Conference regularly selects and recruits a large number of college students to provide services for the conference. Voluntary service for college students not only plays a key role in international activities but also creates for them multiple values such as education, social awareness, some financial award and employability enhancement (Zhang, 2014). At the same time, society’s awareness of the value of volunteering has also continued to grow. Volunteers, as the “third party forces” (Ralston et al., 2005), are increasingly valued by different departments and agencies. In 2017, the State Council of China recognised this through the promulgation of the “Regulations on Voluntary Service”, thereby legalising the value and role of volunteers and volunteer service.
To explore the motivation of volunteers for international events, this study examines the differences between such volunteers in China and other types of volunteers in other countries, describes the motivation of volunteers to improve the service experience and achieve the goal of sustainable volunteer services. Mixed methods were used to collect data about the motivation of college students to volunteer for international events with the purpose of providing suggestions for volunteer organisations and international event organisers.
Literature review
Volunteers and volunteer services for international events
Although the concept of volunteers understood differently in varying contexts, different cultures or historical stages, its core characteristics remain basically stable. That is, it is voluntary, generally unpaid and altruistic (Guan and Zhang, 2018). Bittman and Fisher (2006) believe that the term “volunteers” generally refer to individuals who serve for the profit of others, and do not aim for money and material returns. This concept emphasises altruism and the gratuitousness of labour. China promulgated the “Regulations on Volunteer Service” (The State Council of People’s Republic of China, 2017) Article VI, using the definition whereby to: “Volunteer refers to an individual provides volunteer services through his own time, knowledge, skills and physical power.” Article II states: “Volunteer services refer to the public welfare services provided by volunteers, voluntary service organisations and other organisations to society or others on a voluntary or unpaid basis.” The regulations thus:
define volunteers on the one hand; and
emphasise the characteristics of voluntary service as being free of charge and altruism in nature.
However, King et al. (2006) defined volunteers as individuals who choose to provide services to the community or organisation. Although not for the purpose of obtaining remuneration, volunteering does not exclude compensation for certain expenses. Although such compensation is not a major motive but rather a complementary, subsidiary component.
The concept of special events proposed by Getz (1997, p. 4) has been widely accepted in academia and industry. Based on this concept, international events should be understood as: one-time or annual international events initiated or organised by one or more entities in one or more countries. As such, they represent a potentially important opportunity for leisure, socialising, learning, competing or experiencing culture, which are different from their routine activities.
Based on the above understanding, international event volunteers mainly refer to individuals who use their time, knowledge, skills, physical strength, etc. to provide volunteer services for international events voluntarily, and not for the purpose of obtaining remuneration. In the Chinese context, college students form a major part of those who volunteer for international events. Volunteers, therefore, play an important role in promoting economic development, meeting the needs of event participants while providing community support (Chalip, 2000; Gallarza et al., 2013; Wang and Yu, 2015). Volunteer services are used for most of these events in China and the nature of their performance may even determine the success of such activities (Rolfe, 1992). Nonetheless, the current academic research on volunteers for international activities is still in its infancy, and even after the promulgation of the “Regulations on Volunteer Service”, Chinese research has not increased significantly. This paper therefore seeks to rectify this situation, and in doing so it also hopes to contribute to an international debate.
Motivation of volunteer service for college students
Omoto and Snyder (1995) found that voluntary service has five functions, and correspondingly volunteers have five types of motivation: expressing values, understanding, personal development, community care and enhancing self-esteem. Based on this, after a systematic summary of previous studies, Clary et al. (1998) proposed that volunteers have six types of voluntary service motivations: values; understanding; social; career; protect; and enhancement. For sporting events, Bang and Chelladurai (2003), by studying the 2002 World Cup volunteer service, identify six kinds of motivation: an expression of values, love of country, interpersonal communication, personal development, career opportunities and external rewards. However, Bang and Ross (2009) would add to these factors the “Love of Sport”.
The types of volunteer motives are certainly not limited to sports events. To explore the motivation of non-sports event volunteers, Monga (2006) surveyed five such events in Australia and found five types of motivation: relevance; self-actualisation; social relationship factors; career development opportunity and personal return expectations. In stating this it can be seen that the motivation of volunteers for both sports and non-sporting have both similarities and differences.
As an increasingly common social phenomenon, Chinese scholars have also conducted research on voluntary motivation. Qiao (2016) divides voluntary service motivations into active and passive participation motivations; selfless and reciprocal altruistic motivations and mixed motivations. As far as a certain motivation is concerned, it is true that voluntary motivation can be classified into one of the above categories, but each individual is unique and motivations may be quite complicated, sometimes even conflicting. For example, Liu and Feng (2005) classify college students’ voluntary service motivation into two categories: exercise themselves and help others. Wu (2006) found that the needs of self-growth, the pursuit of knowledge and skills, the need for interpersonal communication and the return of society are the motivations for volunteer service. Wang and Wang (2010) found that building the western region, exercising themselves and preferential policies were among the main reasons as to why volunteers participated in the “western project”. Therefore, no matter the perspective of individual volunteers or research groups, their motivations are either multiple or mixed.
Although Chinese research into volunteers commenced later than that of their western counterparts, some differences have been found. These tend to reflect the Chinese context and Chinese characteristics, such as the influence of political outlook on volunteering (Luo et al., 2012) and the attractiveness of preferential policies to volunteers (Wang and Wang, 2010). Other considerations include unique motivations, such as a “blind motivation” to support governmental agendas (Zhang et al., 2010) and more speculative motives such as peer esteem (Luo et al., 2012).
The analysis also found that although academic studies exist pertaining to voluntary services for international activities, they remain few in number. The report delivered by President Xi Jinping (Xi, 2017) on the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China does indicate: China will actively participate in global governance reform and construction and continue to contribute wisdom and strength to the global society. It then requires promoting the international cooperation according to One-Belt-One-Road initiative; develop the global partnership relationship, and “building a new platform for international cooperation”, but there are general exhortations. The specifics tend to the direct promotion of various international activities in China, including the China International Import Expo, Hangzhou G20 Summit, Xiamen BRICS Conference, China Internet Conference and other international events. Citizen volunteers in these types of events meet the exhortations, and indeed the success of these events is inseparable from the selfless dedication of volunteers, especially college student volunteers.
Given this context, a study of the motivation of college students to volunteer for international events is significant to better guarantee the success of international events, enhance the experience of participants, and even enhance the influence of China’s event industry and China’s international image. This research adopts a mixed research method to provide theoretical support for practical activities such as international event management, volunteer recruitment, training, job matching and maintaining voluntary services.
Research methods
Data source and sampling
In this study, two high-impact international events held in Zhejiang, namely, the United Nations World Geospatial Information Congress (UNWGIC) and the FINA World Swimming Championships (FINA-WSC) were selected as the research objects. The UNWGIC 2018 recruited 760 volunteers, of whom 710 were college students. The 2018 FINA-WSC (25 m) is one of the highest-level swimming events in the world. The event was held in Hangzhou, attracted approximately 1,000 athletes from 170 countries and regions nearly with several hundreds of global media reporting the event. A total of 1,605 volunteers were used in this event, including some 1,552 college students.
The study used cluster sampling (based on the institution at which the students studied) to collect data and the sample is described below.
Sample characteristics.
The study collected data through both paper and electronic questionnaires. As shown in Table 1, a total of 400 paper questionnaires were distributed in this study and 348 were returned. Of these, 326 were considered usable and the final recovery rate was 81.5%. There were no specific target number of electronically based questionnaires. A total of 185 questionnaires were recovered and 163 met data requirements. The final recovery rate was 88.1%.
Of the sample, (Table 2) 83% of the respondents were female and 17% were male. This gender distribution was basically in line with the characteristics of volunteers observed at the events. It is also thought not to be unrepresentative for more than 85% of all volunteers registered at the Hangzhou G20 Summit had a level of English above Band four or six. Language skills are a priority, especially skills in the less frequently spoken languages. Due to these factors, the ratio of registered female volunteers to males has reached 1:3 in China (Xu, 2016). In addition, reflecting educational establishment differences, there are some imbalances in school level, political outlook and service experience. General undergraduate volunteers accounted for 86.3% of the total and those with vocational skills were 13.7% of the total. Only 6% of the volunteers have previous experience of international event services. Those majored in foreign languages formed 44.5% of the total, and those not majored in foreign languages (including tourism) accounted for the remainder.
Motivations of college students
Revision and description of voluntary service motivation scale
In the existing literature, Clary et al. (1998, p. 1520) designed a volunteer motivation scale from a functional perspective based on previous studies. The scale includes six dimensions with a total of 30 indicator questions. The volunteer motivation scale for Bang and Ross (2009, p. 74) was also a 30-indicator question, but the number of dimensions increased to seven. However, these two scales are developed for ordinary volunteers and some of the indicators are not in line with the context of voluntary service for Chinese college students. Therefore, based on these two scales together with items derived from previous interviews and university volunteer research, a “volunteer motivation scale for international activities” was developed. The scale has 30 items arranged in a random order. The underlying envisaged dimensions on “Chinese characteristics” such as “school and other credits for joining the Party”, “the theme or content of international activities is related to my own speciality”, and “it helps volunteers to develop awareness of cross-cultural communication”.
After the scale design was completed, reliability tests and validity tests were performed on the collected data (Table 3). The reliability test showed that the Cologne-Baha Alpha coefficient was 0.937, indicating that the scale had high levels of reliability. The sample validity test shows a Kaiser-Meyer–Olkin value of 0.933 (again a good score), and the Bartlett’s spherical test result x2 value was statistically significant at p < 0.0001. In short, the values meet the requirements for factor analysis.
After the initial pilot testing questionnaires were sent to college students who participated in voluntary services after the two aforementioned international events. The questionnaire asked respondents to select a number on the seven-point scale, where “1” represents a response of “extremely unimportant” on the leading indicator item and “7” represents the opposite, i.e. “extremely important”. Descriptive analysis of the data found that respondents considered altruistic motivation indicators to be the most important (including giving value, helping others, contributing to society and contributing to others), while mean values of self enhancement motivation indicators were the least important (including free participation in events, obtaining uniforms, earning honours, joining the party with extra credits and gaining material subsidies). In addition, patriotism or “pride in my city” are important motivations for volunteering.
Factor analysis
The descriptive statistics are shown in an appendix to the paper. The data are arranged in inverse order and indicate that altruistic motives including a wish to help and pride in their city tended to outweigh possible personal or career gains such as obtaining credits for courses completed or achieving communist party membership or some material gains such as clothing.
Factor analysis is a multivariate statistical method and its purpose is to reflect most of the original data with a smaller number of underlying latent factors or dimensions. Through factor analysis, a total of five common factors were extracted (Table 4). The five factors were named as: personal value expression; tangible and intangible returns; personal identification and development in interpersonal communication; and activity correlation. This is different from the conclusions of Clary et al. (1998) and Bang and Ross (2009) and it also differs from the work of Chinese scholars.
Gender and other differences
After obtaining the five factors of college student volunteer service motivation, to verify whether there is a significant difference in service motivation among volunteers of different genders, majors, school categories and political appearances, the data were recoded and an independent sample t-test and analyses of variance were performed. The test found that the type of school had no significant effect on the motivation to volunteer service; and the same was true of different political perspectives. However, different gender membership and majors of college volunteers did lead to significant differences in volunteer service motivations (Table 5). It was found that gender has a significant impact on personal value expression and personal development, and other aspects are not significant; while different majors will cause their service motivations to have significant differences in personal value, personal development and relevance.
Research conclusions and recommendations
According to the above research, it is found that the motivation of Chinese college students to volunteer for international activities is not only different from that of foreign volunteers but also different from some other types of domestic volunteers. Through the analysis of empirical data, it is found that international event volunteers have mainly five types of motivations, namely, personal value expression, tangible and intangible returns, interpersonal communication, personal identification and development and there exists a correlation between international activities and the majors and personal interests studied. At the same time, according to an analysis of variance, it is concluded that there is no significant difference in the motivation of international volunteers of college students of different political persuasion in serving international activities. Equally, different types of schools will not cause statistical significance in service motivation. However, there are significant differences in the motivations of volunteers of different genders and professions in serving international events (such as personal value expression, personal identity and development and relevance).
The research conclusions can provide reference for international event organisers or volunteer organisations in volunteer management and event management. It is necessary to pay full attention to and understand the motivation of volunteers. Depending on the type of activity, there may be some differences in their motivation for service. Identifying and paying attention to and using these motivational differences is an important means for improving volunteer service levels, increasing their satisfaction and even ensuring the smooth running of events. It is suggested that managers should find a balance between volunteer demands and dedication and pay special attention to the motivational role of social motivation and relevance for volunteers. The study also found that international service volunteering requires higher foreign language requirements, resulting in a higher proportion of foreign language majors and female students in the volunteer group. It is recommended that the professional categories of volunteers be varied as much as possible without affecting the service level and quality of volunteers. On the one hand, it can provide more professional services, and on the other hand, it can also meet the needs of volunteers to expand their communication skills. Thirdly, one needs to value and respect volunteers and their services and recognise and reward their service behaviours. According to media analysis (Liu, 2018), some organisations or event organisers use volunteers to make profits and use volunteers as cheap labour. Although this is not a phenomenon unique to China, it runs counter to the volunteer regulations and effectively undermines the altruistic principles that shape volunteerism. Finally, both researchers and volunteer organisations/organisers should pay attention to research on volunteer behaviour, the quality of volunteer service, its value and the relationship between volunteers and stakeholders. On the basis of understanding motivation, all parties should further promote research into volunteers and their services, protect the spirit of volunteers, maintain the sustainability of voluntary behaviour and make full use of the “third party power” of volunteers.
Data collection
| Questionnaire form | Issued quantity | Recycled quantity | Recovery rate (%) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Paper questionnaire | 400 | 326 | 81.5 |
| Electronic questionnaire | 185 | 163 | 88.1 |
| Total | 585 | 489 | 83.6 |
Data characterisation
| Classifications | Frequency | Accounting (%) | Effective accounting (%) |
Cumulative proportion (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gender | ||||
| Female | 405 | 82.8 | 83.0 | 83.0 |
| Male | 83 | 17.0 | 17.0 | 100.0 |
| Total | 488 | 99.8 | 100.0 | |
| School level | ||||
| Undergraduate | 422 | 86.3 | 86.3 | 86.3 |
| Specialist | 67 | 13.7 | 13.7 | 100.0 |
| Total | 489 | 100.0 | 100.0 | |
| Majors studied | ||||
| Non-foreign language major | 226 | 46.2 | 46.3 | 46.3 |
| Foreign language major | 217 | 44.4 | 44.5 | 90.8 |
| Tourism major | 45 | 9.2 | 9.2 | 100.0 |
| Total | 488 | 99.8 | 100.0 | |
| Political status | ||||
| Communist youth league | 293 | 59.9 | 63.8 | 63.8 |
| Party activists | 136 | 27.8 | 29.6 | 93.5 |
| Party member | 30 | 6.1 | 6.5 | 100.0 |
| Total | 459 | 93.9 | 100.0 | |
| Volunteers for international events | ||||
| Less volunteering | 455 | 93.0 | 94.0 | 94.0 |
| More volunteering | 26 | 5.3 | 5.4 | 99.4 |
| Many volunteer services | 3 | 0.6 | 0.6 | 100.0 |
| Total | 484 | 99.0 | 100.0 | |
Scale reliability and validity tests
| Reliability test | |
| Cologne-Baha alpha coefficient | 0.937 |
| Number of items | 30 |
| KMO test | 0.933 |
| Bartlett sphericity test | |
| Chi-square value | 10,656.908 |
| Degrees of freedom | 435 |
| Significance level | <0.0001 |
Factor analysis matrix
| Factor analysis – rotation component matrix | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| F1 | F2 | F3 | F4 | F5 | |
| 1.2 Volunteers for international activities can help others | 0.831 | ||||
| 1.1 I am willing to contribute to the success of international events | 0.815 | ||||
| 1.4 To volunteer for international activities is a way for college students to contribute to society | 0.795 | ||||
| 1.3 To volunteer for international activities is a valuable activity | 0.784 | ||||
| 1.7 I am proud of my city is winning the right to host international events | 0.687 | ||||
| 1.5 I can express my love for my city by volunteering at international events | 0.677 | ||||
| 1.6 International events can increase the reputation of my city | 0.545 | ||||
| 1.24 To volunteer for international activities is a credit for school evaluation or joining the party | 0.850 | ||||
| 1.25 I volunteer for international activities to get some heavyweight honours | 0.832 | ||||
| 1.21 Volunteers for international activities can get certain material subsidies | 0.824 | ||||
| 1.22 Volunteers for international activities can obtain uniforms unique to international activities | 0.821 | ||||
| 1.23 Volunteers for international activities can participate in international activities for free | 0.791 | ||||
| 1.26 Volunteers for international activities can meet some important guests or idols | 0.655 | ||||
| 1.10 Volunteer for international activities can make more friends | 0.785 | ||||
| 1.9 Volunteers for international activities can work with different people | 0.700 | ||||
| 1.12 Being a volunteer at an international event can add some practical experience | 0.693 | ||||
| 1.8 Volunteers for international activities can get opportunities to interact with people | 0.667 | ||||
| 1.30 Volunteer for international activities can enrich university life | 0.556 | ||||
| 1.14 Being a volunteer for international events made me feel like I was needed by others | 0.685 | ||||
| 1.16 Being a volunteer for international events makes me feel important | 0.671 | ||||
| 1.13 Volunteers for international activities can establish links that will help future employment | 0.658 | ||||
| 1.15 Being a volunteer at an international event gives me the opportunity to explore my strengths | 0.648 | ||||
| 1.19 Volunteers for international activities can get professional volunteer service training | 0.612 | ||||
| 1.20 To volunteer for international activities can improve team awareness and cooperation ability | 0.467 | ||||
| 1.28 The theme or content of an international event is related to my own interests | 0.775 | ||||
| 1.29 It is a rare opportunity to volunteer for international events | 0.729 | ||||
| 1.27 The theme or content of an international event is relevant to my profession | 0.592 | ||||
Analysis of variance
| Difference by gender and major | F | Sig. | T | df | Sig. (2-tailed) | Mean diff. | Std. error diff. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Personal value by gender | Assuming equal variance | 26.558 | 0.000 | −3.340 | 486 | 0.001 | −2.05239 | 0.61440 |
| Personal development by gender | Assuming equal variances | 5.659 | 0.018 | −2.977 | 486 | 0.003 | −2.41984 | 0.81290 |
| Personal value by major | Assuming equal variances | 9.331 | 0.002 | 2.364 | 487 | 0.018 | 1.10223 | 0.46635 |
| Personal development by major | Assuming equal variances | 7.842 | 0.005 | 3.167 | 487 | 0.002 | 1.94118 | 0.61298 |
| By relevance to my study | Assuming equal variances | 1.603 | 0.206 | 5.387 | 487 | 0.000 | 1.78578 | 0.33148 |
Reasons for participating in international volunteer activities
| Descriptive statistics | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| N | Mean | SD | Skew | |
| To volunteer for international activities is a valuable activity | 489 | 6.66 | 0.693 | −2.794 |
| Volunteers for international activities can help others | 489 | 6.54 | 0.799 | −2.285 |
| Volunteer for international activities is a way for college students to contribute to society | 488 | 6.52 | 0.830 | −2.347 |
| I am willing to contribute to the success of international events | 489 | 6.52 | 0.859 | −2.246 |
| I am proud my city has won the right to host international events | 488 | 6.48 | 0.938 | −2.259 |
| Volunteers for international activities can get opportunities to interact with people | 488 | 6.46 | 0.827 | −2.006 |
| Being a volunteer at an international event gives me some practical experience | 488 | 6.43 | 0.857 | −1.928 |
| Volunteering for international activities means I can make more friends | 488 | 6.38 | 0.954 | −1.806 |
| Volunteers for international activities means I can work with different people | 489 | 6.37 | 0.960 | −2.033 |
| Volunteering for international activities can enrich university life | 489 | 6.34 | 0.937 | −1.768 |
| Volunteering for international activities helps to develop cross-cultural communication awareness | 489 | 6.29 | 0.972 | −1.515 |
| International events can increase the reputation of my city | 488 | 6.29 | 1.088 | −1.752 |
| Volunteering for international activities can improve my awareness of teams and cooperative ability | 489 | 6.23 | 1.068 | −1.676 |
| I can express my love for my city by volunteering at international events | 489 | 6.17 | 1.112 | −1.375 |
| Doing international activities gives me an additional perspective | 489 | 6.14 | 1.123 | −1.644 |
| Being a volunteer at an international event gives me the opportunity to explore my strengths | 489 | 6.11 | 1.129 | −1.503 |
| Being a volunteer for international events made me feel like I was needed by others | 488 | 5.97 | 1.234 | −1.295 |
| Being a volunteer at an international event can make my resume more outstanding | 489 | 5.96 | 1.191 | −1.116 |
| It is a rare opportunity to volunteer for international events | 489 | 5.95 | 1.240 | −1.431 |
| Volunteers for international activities can get professional volunteer service training | 488 | 5.87 | 1.304 | −1.278 |
| Being a volunteer for international events makes me feel important | 489 | 5.79 | 1.356 | −1.286 |
| Volunteers for international activities can establish links that will help future employment | 489 | 5.65 | 1.368 | −0.979 |
| The theme or content of an international event is related to my own interests | 488 | 5.34 | 1.512 | −0.822 |
| The theme or content of an international event is relevant to my profession | 489 | 4.70 | 1.789 | −0.479 |
| Volunteers for international activities can meet some important guests/idols | 489 | 4.69 | 1.719 | −0.485 |
| Volunteers for international activities can participate in international activities for free | 487 | 4.64 | 1.762 | −0.427 |
| Volunteers for international activities can obtain uniforms unique to international activities | 486 | 4.21 | 1.874 | −0.071 |
| Volunteers for international activities can get some significant credits | 489 | 4.19 | 1.758 | −0.154 |
| Volunteering for international activities gains me extra credits for school evaluation or party membership | 489 | 3.98 | 1.867 | −0.049 |
| Volunteers for international activities can get certain material subsidies | 487 | 3.90 | 1.839 | 0.083 |
| Valid N (listwise) | 474 | |||
Appendix
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Further reading
Snyder, M. and Omoto, A. (2008), “Volunteerism: social issues perspectives and social policy implications”, Social Issues and Policy Review, Vol. 2 No. 1, pp. 1-36.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to express their gratitude to the “City Internationalisation project” initiated by Zhejiang International Studies University (2017C04) for funding this research.