CFP: ESMQ Sport Volunteerism

CALL FOR PAPERS:

ESMQ 2013 Special Issue

NEW PERSPECTIVES ON SPORT VOLUNTEERISM

Guest editors:

Berit Skirstad (Norwegian School for Sport Sciences, berit.skirstad@nih.no)

Vassil Girginov (Brunel University, vassil.girginov@brunel.ac.uk)

Alison Doherty (University of Western Ontario, adoherty@uwo.ca)

Volunteering and sport volunteering in particular has been gaining prominence in political and academic circles, and has increasingly been framed as part of active citizenship. Volunteering has been recognized by both various national governments and international bodies and calls have been made to promote it. Volunteers represent the backbone of the modern sport systems in many societies around the world. Nonetheless, volunteers remain overstretched, underfunded, and untrained for an ever-demanding and expanding sport system. The growing tension between the lack of support for volunteers and expectations for better governance of sport raise a number of conceptual and practical issues that deserve systematic investigation.

The purpose of this special issue is to bring together knowledge of new perspectives on sport volunteerism that is connected to various levels of sport, from the community to international engagement, and sport volunteerism that is connected to events of all types, from local football matches of children to the Olympic Games. Authors are invited to submit articles that extend our understanding of volunteerism. For example, what are the underlying philosophical dimensions of volunteerism? What social, political and economic functions does volunteering perform? Who are the volunteers, what do they do as sport volunteers, and why? What are the personal benefits and costs of volunteering in sport, and what is the likelihood volunteers will continue to be involved? How can the power of the new social media be harnessed to shape volunteering discourses and to enhance the recruitment and training of volunteers? Further, we need knowledge about how volunteers are used, and for what event and organizational purposes. Conceptual, empirical, and applied studies on sport volunteerism are welcome. The list of themes and topics below is indicative and should not be seen as complete and exclusive of other topics:

• New theoretical perspectives on sport volunteerism
• New/alternative research methods for examining sport volunteerism
• Knowledge transfer of sport volunteer research
• Sport volunteering and social, human and political capital
• Sport volunteering in the broader social, ideological and political agenda
• Corporate volunteering in sport
• Volunteer training and development
• Volunteer-staff relations

Because all articles will be on volunteerism it is preferable that the literature review of each paper focuses only on the research relevant to its specific topic, so we avoid repetition. The focus of the issue is on new perspectives, and thus manuscripts should clearly delineate how the work presented is new to the field and the contribution it makes. Manuscripts must conform to ESMQ guidelines (http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/titles/16184742.asp). Articles must be submitted in English and follow the guidelines of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (6th edition). The abstract should not exceed 150 words and the paper should not exceed 30 pages in length (excluding references).

Special Issue Timelines

March 1st, 2012 – the strict deadline for submissions of manuscripts by email to each of the three Guest editors: berit.skirstad@nih.no; vassil.girginov@brunel.ac.uk; adoherty@uwo.ca and not to the manuscript central.

May 15th 2012 – return reviewers’ comments to authors

August 15th 2012 – deadline for authors’ response to reviewers and to submit revised manuscript, and if necessary followed by a second round of review and final editing

November 1st 2012 – editors’ submission of accepted manuscripts to the publisher

February 2013 – publication of special issue as European Sport Management Quarterly (13,1)