CFP: Special Issue of Sport Management Review

Special Issue of Sport Management Review: Sport Volunteerism

Volunteers are critical to the delivery of sport programs and services around the world. The recent increase in research on sport volunteerism is evident globally with many researchers progressing beyond the basic description of volunteer motives, to examine other aspects of volunteerism, and even re-considering the parameters of volunteerism. For example, volunteers can be conceived as consumers or as human capital, and volunteerism as work, serious leisure, or as training and service learning. This Special Issue seeks to attract and communicate the latest work that is being conducted in the field. The intent of the Special Issue is to provide a platform for the critical examination of various aspects of sport volunteerism, and to progress its study and application to the next level.

This special issue provides sport management scholars the opportunity to present conceptual or empirical papers that highlight the specific issues confronting Sport Volunteerism. (Note - The specific focus will be volunteers rather than the voluntary organisations in which they work, although papers that address the organisational impact on volunteers are appropriate; for example, professionalisation, fiscal restraint).

· General topics of interest may include affective and behavioural aspects of volunteerism (e.g., conflict, stress/burnout, leadership, performance, commitment), their determinants and outcomes, and implications for volunteer management;
· The focus of interest may include: event volunteers, organisational or ‘systematic’ volunteers, volunteer leaders, volunteer boards; youth, seniors, minority groups, underrepresented groups, people with disabilities, aboriginals; volunteers at the community, provincial/state, national, and international level; and
· Research perspectives may include: comparative, economics, organisational behaviour, human resource management, marketing, legal issues, tourism.

The focus will be on conceptual and empirical research (qualitative, quantitative, mixed-method) with a strong theoretical basis that advances knowledge, with a particular interest in ‘cutting-edge’ research. Submissions for the Case Study section of Sport Management Review will be strongly encouraged.

The intent of the special issue is to bring together a collection of papers that would present a range of issues and perspectives on Sport Volunteerism. Four copies of each paper, or an electronic version, should be submitted to the guest editor by September 1, 2005.

Special Issue Editor Contact details: Alison Doherty, PhD, School of Kinesiology, Faculty of Health Sciences, 3M Centre, The University of Western Ontario London, Ontario, Canada N6A 3K7 Ph. (519) 661-2111 Ext. 88362, Fax: (519) 661-2008. E-mail: adoherty@uwo.ca