Degree Project Level: Master’S Level Understanding the Motivation and Satisfaction for Volunteering at Sports Events in the Context of Covid-19

Degree Project Level: Master’s level Understanding the motivation and satisfaction for volunteering at sports events in the context of Covid-19.

The case of the 2021 Lahti Ski Games

Author: Carsten Erik Lantz Supervisor: Tobias Heldt Examiner: Tara Duncan Subject/main field of study: Volunteering Course code: TR3008 Credits: 15 ETCS Date of examination: 14.6.2021

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Declaration This thesis is an original work of Carsten Erik Lantz. All other contributors are properly acknowledged in the text and listed in the bibliography.

Carsten Erik Lantz Date: 14.6.2021

Acknowledgments

First of all, I would like to thank everyone who has helped me throughout the entire process of writing this master’s thesis. As first, I would like to mention my supervisor, Tobias Heldt. His enthusiasm and knowledge in the field of events and Nordic Skiing made me sure from the first day that he would be the right person to guide me on the right path. Besides, I cannot forget about everyone who provided feedback during the thesis seminar. Your thoughts and comments were extremely valuable and enriched this study immensely. I would like to refer in particular to Katharina, who has been extremely supportive and helpful throughout this entire journey. I hope this is just the beginning of a great friendship.

Essential elements for this thesis to be fruitful were the nine people who generously donated their free time to participate in the interviews and contribute to this study. Without them, this project would have been impossible. They, again, demonstrated to be exemplary volunteers, and I hope this thesis allowed them to reflect on their volunteering. It certainly gave me that opportunity.

This thesis could not be complete without the unconditional support of my mother, Izaskun, of my two best friends, Asier and Borja, and above all, my girlfriend Araitz, who encouraged me to always give my best and coped with my ups and downs during the past months. She provided an external perspective, accompanied by great input and insights that allowed me to see the right path, even when I found myself at a dead end.

This is, most likely, not a complete work, but you all own a piece of it already.

Erik Lantz Helsinki, 14.06.2021

Abstract Volunteers are essential for the success of almost any organized event. However, volunteering has undergone a process of modernization, in which altruistic or collective forms of volunteering, motivated by intrinsic behaviors, have been replaced by more egoistic or reflexive ones, which are extrinsically motivated. The purpose of this master’s thesis, following qualitative methodologies in the form of semi-structured interviews and my personal observations, the factors of motivation and satisfaction of nine volunteers from the 2021 Lahti Ski Games, as well as how their previous volunteering satisfaction could have impacted their motivation to engage in volunteering action this year have been analyzed. Furthermore, given that the event took place during the Covid-19 pandemic, the implications of the virus on the motives to volunteer and its consequent events on the volunteering experience have been investigated.

Results demonstrate that despite both types of motivation to volunteer are shown among participants, modern forms of volunteerism seem to have a higher presence. Furthermore, this study demonstrates that previous volunteering satisfaction has a clear influence on the intentions to volunteer in the future. Finally, it is stated that the event taking place during the Covid-19 pandemic did not influence the motivation as much as the satisfaction of the volunteering experience. Thus, this thesis generates unique knowledge on the topics of volunteering motivation and satisfaction. However, the implications of Covid-19 have not been yet deeply investigated and it suggests that further research could be conducted on the topic.

Keywords: Sports volunteering, Volunteering motivation, Volunteering satisfaction, Lahti Ski Games, Covid-19

Table of Contents 1. INTRODUCTION ...... 1 1.1. The current context of events due to Covid-19 ...... 1 1.2. Research Aim ...... 2 1.3. Research questions ...... 2 2. LITERATURE REVIEW ...... 3 2.1. Volunteering at (sport) events ...... 3 2.2. Factors of motivation for volunteering...... 4 2.3. Satisfaction and future volunteering intention ...... 5 2.4. Volunteering at (elite sporting) events in the context of Covid-19 ...... 6 2.5. Summary ...... 7 3. STUDY CONTEXT ...... 9 3.1. COVID-19 measures during the Lahti Ski Games ...... 10 4. METHODOLOGY ...... 11 4.1. Reasons for topic and methodological choices ...... 11 4.2. Method for data collection ...... 12 4.2.1. Semi-structured interviews...... 12 4.2.2. Participants ...... 14 4.3. Method for data analysis ...... 15 4.3.1. Thematic Analysis ...... 16 4.3.2. Personal observations ...... 17 4.4. Ethics ...... 17 4.5. Trustworthiness ...... 18 4.6. Limitations ...... 19 5. FINDINGS ...... 20 5.1. Motivation to volunteer ...... 21 5.1.1. Benefitting others ...... 21 5.1.2. Benefitting oneself ...... 22 5.1.3. External factors ...... 24 5.1.4. Covid-19, influencing volunteering motivation ...... 26 5.2. Volunteering satisfaction in the context of Covid-19 ...... 29 5.2.1. Organizational level ...... 29 5.2.2. Task level: challenges and gratification ...... 31 5.2.3. Personal level ...... 33 6. DISCUSSION...... 36 6.1. Generosity, selfishness, or both? ...... 36 6.2. What else motivates me?...... 37

6.3. Why volunteer during Covid? ...... 38 6.4. What made me happy? And what did not? ...... 39 6.5. Concluding remarks ...... 40 7. CONCLUSIONS ...... 41 7.1. Limitations ...... 41 7.2. Contribution and Further Research ...... 42 BIBLIOGRAPHY...... 43 APPENDICES ...... 49 Appendix A: Interview guide ...... 49 Appendix B: Refined Interview guide ...... 50

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1: Location of Lahti in Finland and the Baltic Region. Source: self-made using the software Ahoy Map Maker ...... 9

Figure 2: Logo of the 2021 Lahti Ski Games. Source: www.lahtiskigames.com ...... 9

Figure 3: Process of creation of the interview guide ...... 12

LIST OF TABLES:

Table 1: Tick-box table ...... 13

Table 2: Personal profile of participants ...... 15

Table 3: Thematic framework, created based on the TA models of Rehberg (2005) and Schnitzer et al., (2018) ...... 20

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS:

- LSG: Lahti Ski Games - SDT: Self-Determination Theory - IA: Impure Altruism - SLT: Satisfaction-Loyalty Theory - TA: Thematic Analysis - TH: Team Host - SP: Ski Patrol

1. INTRODUCTION What could any event be without their volunteers? They are an essential part for the success of most events (Hallmann & Zehrer, 2017; Schnitzer et al., 2018; Østerlund, 2013). They conduct a wide range of tasks while considerably reducing the operational costs of running the event (Ahn, 2018). Even if volunteering can happen in several types of contexts, sports are a type of activity or event which are very much linked to volunteering (Benson & Wise, 2017). In Europe, the sports sector is the one that brings the highest number of volunteers to the setting where the event takes place (Wicker & Frick, 2016). Alike minded people come together to help make the event become a success, and this is not an exception when it comes to winter sports event volunteering. However, during 2020 and 2021, the still ongoing pandemic situation of Covid-19 has caused major changes within the field of sports events, most of them being canceled, and only elite sport events being the ones taking place, without an audience in almost all cases (Parnell et al., 2020; Lachance, 2020), although towards the second end half of 2021, audiences are expected to slowly return to the stadiums as the vaccinations reach higher rates.

1.1. The current context of events due to Covid-19 Covid-19 has presented certain challenges to any event organizer when recruiting volunteers. Although fewer volunteers were needed -many fulfill audience-management tasks- and restrictions regarding social distancing may presumably have had affected the willingness of potential volunteers to participate in the event. Nevertheless, this may also be highly dependent on the fact whether, in previous years, the volunteers have felt that their expectations have been satisfied or not (Schnitzer et al., 2018), as their personal experience during the event will play a key role at the time of retaining that particular volunteer. The amount of literature regarding volunteering during the Covid-19 pandemic is becoming larger every passing day. However, it is worth mentioning that this literature addresses the topic of volunteering for the health service sector and that not much research has been done on other types of volunteering, such as sporting event volunteering, in the context of Covid-19. In the same way, research shows that volunteering motivation at sports events is also a topic that scholars have been involved in, even within Nordic Skiing events (Wollebæk et al., 2014; Schnitzer, et al., 2018; Uchermann, 2011), but their participation within the pandemic context can hardly be widely referred back to. Furthermore, most of the research that can be found in the field of volunteering motivation has been conducted using quantitative methods, although some other studies that have used qualitative methodologies to research other aspects of volunteering can be found in

the literature (e.g. Uchermann, 2011; Schnitzer et al., 2018). Thus, this research will attempt to grasp this topic more in-depth by conducting qualitative research in form of interviews with a selected number of volunteers (first-timers and returning ones) to fill this existing knowledge gap.

1.2. Research Aim This thesis aims at understanding the factors that affect the motivation to participate and the satisfaction after having participated as a volunteer at the 2021 LSG are. Furthermore, it also aims at interpreting how the Covid-19 pandemic may have had an impact on both volunteering motivation and satisfaction. It is considered that the knowledge this thesis produces could be valuable for sports organizations to better understand what drives people to engage in volunteering action and which aspects of the experience fulfill them, as well as to understand the impacts the pandemic may have had in sports volunteering. 1.3. Research questions Consequently, and once the aim and objectives for this thesis were established, the following research questions and subquestions were set:

o What were the factors of motivation for volunteering at the LSG during the Covid-19 pandemic? o What were the factors that affected volunteers’ satisfaction at the 2021 LSG during the Covid-19 pandemic?

This master’s thesis is composed of nine chapters. The introduction of the thesis is followed by a literature review, in which an extensive coverage of previous studies related to volunteering and the theories that connect to them is conducted, before presenting the study context of the case that will be researched. In the following chapter, the used methodology regarding data collection, sampling, and analysis, as well as the trustworthiness, the limitation, and the ethical values of this study are introduced. Once the data is collected, the obtained findings are presented and paralleled with my observations before the discussion chapter, in which whether the research questions are answered will be discussed. Finally, several conclusions will be presented overviewing the course of the study, the obtained results, the limitations, and its contribution, and suggested future research.

2. LITERATURE REVIEW When the research topic concerns volunteer participation motivation at a sports event in the context of Covid-19, certain terms and concepts are embedded within this topic, and they require a deeper understanding to research them. In the upcoming literature review, I attempt to provide the reader with a broader perspective of these essential terms and concepts regarding events, volunteering, motivation, and satisfaction.

2.1. Volunteering at (sport) events Events, especially planned events, are happenings that are considered an integral part of the society we live in. They can bring many benefits -social, cultural, economic, and environmental- to the hosting destination, and even though they were not originally devised as such, they can be an important touristic attraction from which destinations might attempt to make the most of (Getz, 2013, 2014). Therefore, these kinds of events could also be called hallmark or destination events (Solberg & Preuss, 2007; Getz, 2014). The main goals when arranging such events would be to attract tourism, create and improve the destination’s image, and develop infrastructures. Nonetheless, it is noteworthy mentioning that most of these events would never take place if it were not for the volunteers’ contribution. As Benson and Wise (2017, p. 1) cite “volunteering is an activity in which an individual donates their time, efforts and expertise”. Although there exist events composed by paid staff alone, volunteers stand, in most cases, for the largest share of the staff members at an event, and they are considered essential stakeholders for the event tourism industry, ensuring the event operates smoothly and successfully (Lockstone et al., 2010; Ludvigsen & Hayton, 2020). Even though volunteering has previously been linked to what one can give to others, it could be argued that nowadays volunteering happens also for more egoistic or individualistic reasons, such as the development of personal skills, and the creation of a network of contacts that could lead to future professional opportunities (Benson & Wise, 2017; Wollebæk et al., 2014). Thus, as Benson and Wise (2017) claim, what event organizers aim at is to have created certain values that will generate a win- win outcome, in which both the volunteers and the event itself will benefit from its happening, namely, by allowing volunteers to develop those skills and knowledge which will finally influence the event positively.

As Getz (2013) suggests, sports events are a significant part of the event industry, and certain major sporting events are considered “huge gatherings and complex social situations” (Dickman, 2013, p. 1). Sports events and volunteers have given researchers the possibility to

study human behavior since they, as Wicker (2017, p. 334) states, “want to disentangle why people work for free in such great number of sports”. Certain research has linked sports events volunteering to the middle and high sector of society (Hayton & Blundell, 2020). Despite the effort to include lower-class population into volunteering action by the provision of a training program, acknowledging the benefits it could have on them, limitation such as lack of education and skills or the high costs of training volunteers leads managers to directly recruit volunteers who are already qualified to fulfill their tasks.

2.2. Factors of motivation for volunteering Altruism has been defined by the Oxford Learner's Dictionary (2021) as “the fact of caring about the needs and happiness of other people and being willing to do things to help them, even if it brings no advantage to yourself”. However, Andreoni (1989, 1990) describes that altruism does not always take place in its original forms. Andreoni pioneered another form of altruism, called Impure Altruism (IA), in which people could have a motivation for contribution consisting of both purely altruistic and purely egoistic motives. It sounds complicated to believe that someone would carry out an action that would favor someone else and be indifferent or neutral about it and not feel that “warm glow” or pride that Andreoni (1989, 1990) introduces. On the other hand, Saito (2015) adds that impure altruistic behavior could also take place to prevent the shame of not acting altruistically, or impure egoistic behavior could be caused by the temptation of acting selfishly exceeding the shame of not doing so.

In connection to the aim and the first research questions of this thesis, it must be stated that having motivated volunteers is considered as important as counting on qualified volunteers that will deliver a good service when completing their tasks (Alexander et al.,2015). Farrel et al., (1998) had categorized volunteers’ motivation or incentivization into four different groups: purposive (usefully contributing to society), solidary (having social interaction), external tradition (external factors influencing motivation), and commitments (other’s expectation to volunteer). However, the term described in the heading of this chapter could also be very well approached by describing the theory of collective and reflexive volunteering described by Wollebæk et al., (2014). In it, they claim that volunteers can be divided into two main groups according to their different motivations. On the one hand, the collective volunteer will regularly engage in the task for the mere pleasure of being part of the event while being able to socially interact with friends, the motives of this type of volunteer being intrinsic. On the other hand, the reflexive volunteer, often participating for the first time, would be motivated to take part in

the event will be external to the event itself or extrinsic, such as gaining personal and professional skills or increasing their network. One could easily see the similarities between Farrel et al’s (1998) and Wollebæk et al.’s (2014) approaches, especially when linking the motives of solidary and purposive with collective volunteering, and the external tradition and commitment with the reflexive one. Nonetheless, both authors argue that volunteering has evolved into a trend in which volunteers engage in it for more extrinsic and egoistic reasons than for motives related to the selfless contribution to society. In another study, though, Giannoulakis et al. (2008), who studied the motivational factors to volunteer at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, claim, in contrast to the previous statements, that the main reasons to volunteer were to experience the event from inside and get to know what it is from “behind the scenes”, whereas the purposive factor was the least determinant one, but it was presumed that this was caused due to the Olympic attraction factor.

Continuing on the path of understanding motivation of human behavior, it appears to be necessary to present the Self-Determination Theory (SDT). This theory suggests that the behavior can be either self-determined or phenomenological (conscious), or automated or mechanistic (unconscious) (Deci & Ryan, 1980). Thus, it could be stated that whether an action is self-determined will depend on the consciousness the actor has regarding the action itself. Linking SDT to the already mentioned intrinsic and extrinsic motivations, we can find that two types of motivation are found within them: autonomous being connected to the intrinsic motivation, and controlled behavior to the extrinsic one (Gagné & Deci, 2005). Within the extrinsic types of motivation, and in connection with the theory of IA, we can find a regulatory form of motivation called introjected regulation. This case is a form of internalized motivation, this being a type of motivation or attitude that was external to the person at first, but which has finally been adopted by the subject as their own “naturally”. In contrast, in the case of introjection, the motivation ends up having a certain power over the person, in which the person finds the motivation to conduct a certain activity to lift their ego and self-esteem, and “feel like a worthy person” (Gagné & Deci, 2005, p.334). This could well be another example of IA in cases such as volunteering and charitable work.

2.3. Satisfaction and future volunteering intention As this thesis aims also at grasping the factors of satisfaction of people’s volunteering experience, it is worth noting that volunteering experience and the consequent satisfaction at a particular event potentially enhances the motivation to repeat that experience. Having

volunteers reach high levels of happiness during their volunteering experience will most likely lead to those individuals being more prone to engage in volunteering in the future, as Wu et al. (2019) and Cho et al. (2020) state in their respective studies. This could be explained by the Satisfaction-Loyalty Theory (SLT) developed by (Fu et al., 2018) in which the satisfaction levels of the quality of service would have direct effects on the behavioral intentions of a person at the time of deciding to stick to that particular service. This could also be paralleled to the Service Quality-Satisfaction-Behavioral Intentions (SQ-S-BI) paradigm, used by Jen et al. (2011) to better comprehend the behavioral intention of passengers in the coach service, in which they obtained results that stated that passengers’ satisfaction and behavioral intentions were very much affected by the perceived quality. This fact would, concurrently, potentially aid the task of retention and future recruitment of volunteers, considered the most challenging task for event organizers (Ahn, 2018; Østerlund, 2013). The available literature offers different arguments regarding ways to reach volunteer satisfaction and retention. Lockstone et al. (2010) argue that providing volunteers with flexible working hours and tasks can enhance future recruitment and retention. Furthermore, Hallmann and Zehrer (2017) argue that this process might be dependent on comprehending volunteers' behavior and psychology. Other studies have also mentioned recognition, organizational support, competency, provided training, having role model, or material and other benefits and incentives as factors that may affect volunteer recruitment and retention (Wicker & Frick, 2016; Wicker, 2017; Schnitzer et al., 2018; Ahn, 2018). Nonetheless, it seems unarguable that all factors have the common variable of “satisfaction” in them.

2.4. Volunteering at (elite sporting) events in the context of Covid-19 “The current COVID-19 pandemic is caused by a coronavirus named SARS-CoV-2. Coronaviruses (CoVs) are a large family of viruses, several of which cause respiratory diseases in humans” (WHO, 2020). Unlike other virus outbursts, this pandemic has reached and challenged the entire globe’s health and political authorities due to its ease of spreading. Mass gatherings are undoubtedly one of the main contributors to the spreading of the virus, which is why recreational events have been one of the most affected activities by the pandemic, as they bring organizers, participants, audience, volunteers, etc. together into one venue (Lachance, 2020). Concerning the second half of this thesis’ aim, hardly any study can be found which thoroughly investigates the celebration of sports events under the threat of infectious disease, except for Dickman (2013), who set an unprecedented when it came to the implementation of risk communication to decrease the risk of transmission and spread of disease at sports events.

Even though elite level sports competitions, in which athletes also have the chance to act as role models for the general public regarding social responsibility during the pandemic (Leng & Phua, 2020), have resumed, it is unquestionable that the Covid-19 pandemic has presented several challenges for the celebration of such events in all aspects. Sports events have previously taken place during infectious disease outbreaks without major problems, some examples of this being the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics and 2010 FIFA World Cup during H1N1 influenza, the 2015 Africa Cup of Nation during Ebola virus genesis or Zika virus’ outbreak while the 2016 Olympic Games were taking place in Rio (Parnell et al., 2020). Horky, (2020), presenting the case of German football, claims how, during Covid-19 times, the return of professional sports activity -even if it is without an audience at first- is essential for society, as virtual spectators, and especially for those who are part of the sports business, given the economic contribution of broadcasting rights.

Nonetheless, Covid-19 has forced event organizers, governing bodies, and other stakeholders to remodel and readapt their operations to the new context (Byers, et al., 2021), requiring them to set restrictive measures for these events to take place safely (Mohanty, et al., 2021). The two main sport mega-events were to take place in 2020, the Olympics Games in Tokyo and the football UEFA Euro, which have been postponed until the summer of 2021 (Parnell et al., 2020). The first will not take in international spectators or volunteers (IOC, 2021), and all athletes will hold a Covid-19 passport (McLarnon & Heron, 2021) whereas in the second one, having 11 host cities, the audience intake will fluctuate between 22% and 50%, with the only exception of Budapest, which “aims to host 100% of the stadium capacity but with strict entry requirements”, and the official UEFA website does not restrict traveling to be a volunteer at the EURO (UEFA, 2021).

Although concrete answers regarding what the future of sports events will hold cannot be provided yet, it is to be estimated that, the number of volunteers required for the elite sports events, as long as they happen without spectators, will be reduced considerably, since most of these events are in the current state taking place without or with a reduced public and a big share of the recruited volunteers fulfill audience management tasks (Ludvigsen & Hayton, 2020). Thus, it is to be assumed that reduced tourism volumes will be created from these events.

2.5. Summary This chapter has covered some theoretical background and some existing literature related to volunteering, the motivation for volunteering, and the satisfaction of engaging in such

actions. It has begun by addressing the importance of volunteers for the success of an event, especially in the case of sports events, where there is a wide range of tasks that need to be fulfilled. Following this, and establishing a link with the first research question, different theoretical aspects that concern the motivation to engage in volunteering action have been addressed. The IA and SDT have been discussed, as well as several other approaches from scholars regarding intrinsic and extrinsic motivations. Being able to understand which type of motivation drives people to volunteer in these kinds of events could contribute to discovering whether the modernization of volunteering is taking place or not. Furthermore, linking back to the second research question, the satisfaction factor of volunteering has been presented, clarifying that volunteering satisfaction will partly have a retrospective approach, setting the grounds of it with the Satisfaction-Loyalty Theory, knowledge that could be extremely valuable for event organizers have their volunteers return. Finally, volunteering has been presented in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, providing some background of the virus itself, how it has so far affected the celebration of events and providing some examples of how historically events have taken place during the outbreak of other infectious diseases.

3. STUDY CONTEXT The Lahti Ski Games (LSG), is a Nordic Skiing event that takes place in the Finnish city of Lahti. Lahti is located about 100km north of Helsinki, the capital city of Finland (see Figure 1). Figure 1: Location of Lahti in Finland and the Baltic Region. Source: self-made using the software Ahoy Map Maker

The Lahti region, besides its long skiing history, has widespread sporting and performance tradition, hosting two Olympic training centers together with a wide range of sporting facilities for several types of sports -alpine skiing, ice-hockey, football, basketball, car and motorbike racing, etc. (Visit Lahti, 2021). In recent years, the city administration has taken a step forward in developing sports tourism in Lahti and the region by building a multifunctional motor racing circuit that hosts a Moto GP race (KymiRing, 2021) as well as bringing an Ironman 70.3 triathlon event to take place in the city (Ironman, 2021).

Bringing the LSG into focus, the event could be described as one of the stages of the International Ski Federation or FIS (in French: Fédération Internationale de Ski) World Cup of three different skiing disciplines: cross-country skiing, ski Figure 2: Logo of the 2021 Lahti Ski Games. Source: www.lahtiskigames.com jumping, and Nordic Combined, the last one being a combination of the two previous disciplines. Different from other destinations that do not manage to hold a stage every winter season, Lahti hosts this Nordic ski festival yearly since 1923 due to its high reputation and strong connection to both cross-country skiing and ski jumping (Hiihtomuseo, 2021). LSG is also an event that relies its

success on volunteers’ contribution to the event, as they fulfill a wide range of tasks from Team Host services to Security and Transportation passing through food services, logistics, health, media, IT services, audience management, and Ski Patrols. The roles of the selected participants of this study are further explained in 4.2.2. In 2021, the LSG took place between the 22nd and the 24th of January (see Figure 2).

3.1. COVID-19 measures during the Lahti Ski Games The Games taking place during a pandemic required following the safety guidelines the health authorities had established. Three bubbles were created to seclude the sections belonging to each bubble from the other two, to have the competing team members, including athletes, as isolated as possible (Lahti Ski Games, 2021). The Red Bubble included athletes and team staff members, volunteers such as Team Hosts and Catering, Host Broadcasting Organization and the Organizing Committee. In the Yellow Bubble, there were the media and other broadcasting groups, and media volunteers. Everyone belonging to these two bubbles had to take an Antigen Covid-19 test and show a negative result before entering the venue to obtain their accreditation. Nonetheless, those at the Blue Bubble, in which local organizers, including Ski Patrols, were, did not have to be tested, and were instead, required to fill in an overall health questionnaire. Being in any bubble required being isolated from people from other bubbles and any other public space outside the Games’ venue. Furthermore, facemasks were required to be worn at all times, and a two-meter safety distance had to be kept (Lahti Ski Games, 2021).

4. METHODOLOGY Even though a big share of tourism and hospitality research has been dominated by positivist paradigms (Nunkoo, 2018), as research expands, more studies have adopted interpretivist or social constructivist approaches. As mentioned in the introduction chapter of this thesis (see 1.3.), most studies researching the topic of motivation for volunteering at sports events have been conducted quantitatively (Farrel et al., 1998; Alexander et al.,2015; Giannoulakis et al., 2008; Wollebæk et al.,2014). Nevertheless, given that this thesis aims to deeply understand what motivated and satisfied the people who volunteer at the 2021 LSG in the Covid-19 pandemic context, following the path of qualitative methodologies seemed the right decision to make. Qualitative research methodologies have widely been used to study subjects related to anthropology and social sciences to understand the nature and the qualities of a phenomenon (Jennings, 2012), allowing for a rich and holistic interpretation and understanding of a social process or phenomenon at a certain context (Tracy, 2020). Therefore, the ontological bases of the study are subjectivists, followed by an interpretivists epistemology, in which social actors are interpreted individually, trying to grasp their differences and similarities

4.1. Reasons for topic and methodological choices Discovering the reason to conduct a study on a specific topic may sometimes result complicated. I, personally, had not properly reflected on the reason why I had volunteered for the LSG already for the third time and this thesis became an excellent chance to exercise that self-reflectivity. Furthermore, being able to collect data from other volunteers provided me with a wide range of perceptions and insights which broadened and enriched my own perspective regarding volunteering in general and volunteering at sports events in particular. This is why this thesis was conducted as a case study, a method in which a particular social phenomenon is investigated and exemplified using a real-life case (Saunders et al., 2009).

If one intended to understand if their research has a deductive or an inductive approach, purely inductive studies would be hard to find from the literature. Given the time constraints for submitting this thesis, it does not seem manageable to approach the study uniquely from an inductive perspective. Inductive studies do not have a theoretical background that frames the investigation, this being exactly what the deductive approach embraces (Saunders et al., 2009). Thus, this thesis combines both of these approaches.

In the following subchapters, the methods for data collection and analysis, ethical considerations, the study's trustworthiness, and the limitations of this thesis are presented.

4.2. Method for data collection As Saunders et al. (2009) mention, the data collection in case-studies is prone to be conducted using multiple methods. This thesis combines semi-structured interviews and my own observations.

4.2.1. Semi-structured interviews The main source of information for this master’s thesis has been semi-structured interviews due to the flexibility they offer for the data collection (Bell et al., 2018). Semi- structured interviews allow researchers to explore the topic in-depth, enabling respondents to express their thoughts freely and to ask follow-up questions if the provided answer is deemed insufficient (Roulston & Choi, 2018). They could well be called “phenomenological interviews” as the focus is set on the respondents’ perspective or understanding regarding a certain experience or phenomenon (Roulston & Choi, 2018). The interviews aim at exploring the motivational and satisfaction perceptions of the volunteers who participated at the 2021 LSG, and how these were affected by the event taking place during the Covid.19 pandemic. Thus, it could be stated that the main source of information has been collected from primary data sources. Nevertheless, it cannot be forgotten the fact that secondary data, namely, a literature review of theoretical grounds and previous studies on the topic, has been used to set the foundations of the interview guide that was created to structure these interviews (see Appendices A and B). The process to create an interview guide is exemplified in Figure 3:

Figure 3: Process of creation of the interview guide

It is worth mentioning that a tick box table was created to make sure certain terms and topics were covered during the interview (see Table 1). Based on the theoretical grounds and previous studies on volunteering that this thesis, and consequently, the interview guide has its grounds on, aspects regarding the participants’ sports and volunteering background, their different forms of volunteering motivation, the factors that affected their satisfaction, and how Covid-19 had affected their motivation to participate and the satisfaction during and after the event were expected to appear during the interviews. Thus, as the interview went on, and those topics were covered, they were crossed off from the Tick-Box table. If a certain answer did not provide a sufficient response concerning the topic in question, a follow-up question was asked, ensuring the neutrality of it, in order to have that specific aspect properly discussed.

Table 1: Tick-box table

The interviews lasted between 25 and 55 minutes. The interview guide, formed by five main blocks, aimed to collect the desired data to answer the formulated research questions. The first section (1) intended to collect background information from each participant; the second one (2) was formed by questions regarding their motivation to volunteers at the LSG, especially in 2021; the third block (3) focused on how that motivation to take part in 2021 was affected by the event taking place in a pandemic; the fourth section (4) addressed the topic of how their

experience had been affected by Covid-19 and how the motivation of returning volunteers had been affected by their satisfaction from previous volunteering experiences at the LSG. Finally, some more open questions were asked about what volunteering means to them in the fifth block (5).

The interviews took place during weeks 16 to 18. Given the social distancing restrictions, all participants agreed to be interviewed via video-calling using the video-calling software Zoom, which meant that they were conducted having synchronous interaction (Bell et al., 2018). This allowed for face-to-face interaction in real time, which potentially reduced the risk of bias from the interviewees’ answers (Gard-McGehee, 2012) thanks to the recording feature of the software. Semi-structured telephone interviews -however, not via video calling- had been used by Rehberg (2005) when researching the motives young Swiss adults presented to engage in international volunteering.

All interviews were conducted in English as all participants demonstrated a good command of this language, easing the transcribing process and the comparative analysis. Each interview was immediately transcribed and analyzed before conducting the next one, aiming to identify if any changes needed to be made in the interview guide and avoid further anomalies in the upcoming interviews.

4.2.2. Participants Given that I also participated in the LSG as a volunteer filling the role of Team Host (TH), I had access to several people who volunteered at the event. Eight other THs and one Ski Patrol (SP) were contacted via WhatsApp, presenting the aim of the research and why they were being contacted as potential participants of the sample, as Saunders et al. (2009) suggest that this can aid in gaining access to participants. Finally, seven THs and the SP agreed to be interviewed. The sample, however, lacked some balance, potentially handicapping the drawing of solid conclusions. Thus, a message was posted in several Facebook groups to recruit more volunteers who had filled the SP role, and one man was also added to the sample, this adding a higher degree of comparability and representativeness. Therefore, this thesis uses both a convenience sample and a purposive sample.

Nevertheless, a differentiation needs to be made with regards to the level of implication required by THs and SPs. Research has corroborated such differences, in which THs would be considered on-site volunteers, who according to Doherty (2009) are, besides working longer

than the duration of the event, also assigned certain organizational “duties such as shuttling participants and providing hospitality during the event”, and being the first contact of the competing national teams each TH is assigned to, whereas SPs would be regarded as Games time volunteers since they engage in volunteering action only for as long as the event lasts (Fairley et al., 2014), and they are responsible to ski the tracks before and after each competition. However, the criterion to be included in the sample was to be at least 18 years old and having participated at the 2021 LSG as a volunteer. In the following table (see Table 2), the 9 participants of the sample are introduced in alphabetical order, providing a personal profile of each one of them:

Table 2: Personal profile of participants

4.3. Method for data analysis As Jennings (2012 p.11) states “qualitative research provides a slice of life”, in which each participant in the study is given the chance to share her/his story on a particular topic of experience. After having conducted and transcribed all 9 interviews, as Walters (2016) suggests, the transcripts were read several times to start generating codes from the recurring topics and the similarities and differences found in them. The coding aimed to obtain as through

data as possible by linking a concept or idea to a text segment (King, 2004). To make the coding process more effective, the software Nvivo was used, which became an incredibly convenient tool to analyze large amounts of raw data, easing the iterative process of data analysis to a great extent (Saunders et al., 2009). Finally, a total of 102 codes were created.

4.3.1. Thematic Analysis Despite the preliminary coding was done freely, at the time of creating the thematic framework, the Thematic Analysis (TA) models from Rehberg (2005) and Schnitzer et al. (2018) were used to set the grounds of its structure. Their models seemed very appropriate, both regarding the topic investigated, and owing to the similarities I had identified between their frameworks and the statements in my transcripts. Rehberg (2005) studied the motivational factors to volunteer of young Suiss adults, using a combination of quantitative and qualitative methodologies and he divided his TA framework into three groups “Achieving something positive for others”, “Quest for the new” and “Quest for oneself”. After thoroughly analyzing my transcripts and codes, the similarities between Rehberg’s (2005) results and my collected and coded data appeared to be evident. In Schnitzer et al.’s (2018) case, the TA framework presented the “expectations”, their volunteering “experience” and “legacies” in two Nordic Skiing World Championship events, Oslo (Norway) in 2011 and Val di Fiemme (Italy) in 2013. The resemblance between the two cases and the collected testimonies inspired me when shaping my own TA framework, with regards to the satisfaction perspective of volunteering.

After the codes were “cleaned”, they transpired into 31 top-level codes and five low-level codes. Following Walters’ (2016) model, the codes were clustered into seven Basic Themes, finally forming two Organizing Themes. The entire TA framework that has been used for the analysis can be found in the Findings chapter (see 4.). From the data collected during the interviews, on the one hand, four main topics seemed to emerge: a volunteer willingness to “benefit others”, the willingness to “benefit oneself”, “external factors” that affected participants’ motivation to volunteers, and the influence Covid-19 had when deciding to partake. These four Basic Themes formed the Organizing theme “Motivation to volunteers”. On the other hand, participants related to their volunteering experience’s satisfaction from an “organizational level”, “task level” and “personal level”. The impact Covid-19 had on all these factors was considered holistic, which lead not to create a Basic theme specifically related to the influence of the pandemic on the participants’ satisfaction, but instead, the three Basic Themes were clustered to establish the Organizing Theme “Volunteering satisfaction in the

context of Covid-19”. Owing to the interdependence of the two Organizing Themes, no Global Theme was finally created, and Walter’s (2016) model was not fully emulated.

4.3.2. Personal observations I, as the author, and also volunteer at the 2021 LSG, provided my observations, pairing them with the responses given by the interviewees. My notes from the event were created approximately a month after the event took place, as the thesis topic had not been defined when the LSG were celebrated. The use of personal observations, experiences, and reflections as a research method is called autoethnography (Adams et al., 2015), of which acknowledgment as a term dates back to the mid-1970s, although self-observation techniques had also been previously used for several research purposes (Anderson, 2006). As Anderson (2006) claims, autoethnographers become complete members of the context that is investigated and they are forced to exercise their self-reflexivity to deeply understand it. Moreover, the researcher is an active participant in the text, expressing their own impressions and feelings on the investigated topic or context. Nonetheless, this method has all along faced several ethical issues due to the high degree of subjectivity and its complication to have personal observations scientifically represent a global socio-cultural and political context (Lapadat, 2017), this being suffered mostly by single-authored autoethnographic studies. Lapadat (2017) suggests “collaborative autoethnography” -autoethnographic studies conducted by several researchers- to help reduce such constraints. This has, however, not been necessary in the case of this thesis, as my observations are paired together with the statements of the nine interviewed participants. Finally, it must be stated that autoethnographic studies are written in a manner that makes research accessible to a wider public (Adams et al., 2014), an aspect that this research aims to benefit from.

4.4. Ethics When conducting any study, ethical considerations regarding data collection and analysis are crucial aspects to bear in mind. It is a primary aim of mine to avoid any kind of plagiarism at the time of referring to someone else’s study or testimony when building my own grounds and conclusions. All scholars’ work and interviewees’ testimonies have been correctly referenced using the 7th edition of APA (American Psychological Association).

Furthermore, as mentioned in the “Methods for data collection”, primary data was collected via recorded video-call interviews, using the software Zoom (see 3.2.1.). Before starting the interview, all participants were asked to grant permission to record the interview. Once this

permission had been granted, which all participants did, they were thanked for their collaboration and contribution to this thesis, as often it may be difficult to gain access to people who are willing to engage in any time-consuming action without receiving anything in return (Saunders et al., 2009). Even though all interviewees were aware of the aims of the thesis beforehand, they were also informed about the course of the same. Participants were also given an estimated duration of the interview, which preliminarily was around 45 minutes. They were assured that their anonymity would be preserved by the use of a pseudonym (see Table 2) and that their testimony would be kept confidential and used exclusively for the purpose of this master’s thesis (see Appendix B). All recordings were destroyed once the thesis had been completed. All ethical aspects were carefully considered following the Code of Ethical Standards for Research by Dalarna University.

4.5. Trustworthiness To ensure the trustworthiness of every research, there are certain requirements the study must meet. In this master’s thesis’ case, a triangulation in the data collection was used, combining a TA from semi-structured interviews with my personal observations (see 4.3.1 and 4.3.2.), this enhancing the credibility of the study (Nowell et al., 2017; Saunders et al., 2009). The iterative nature of the data analysis also enhanced this attribute (Gard-McGehee, 2012). I present myself as a participant of the study, providing the reader with an inside-the-event perspective, speaking in first person, as Jennings (2012), also suggests, and the choices of the topic and research methods are meticulously explained. The process was audited several times by peer students, the supervisor, and other teachers, demonstrating the dependability of the thesis (Connelly, 2016). Despite the sample not representing all volunteering positions, two roles, both genders, several age groups and different levels of volunteering experience are present in it. Furthermore, the sample was deemed adequate at the Final Seminar of the Thesis Proposal, this ensuring the authenticity of the research (Connelly, 2016). The setting, the participants in the interviews, and the findings are described in detail, enhancing the transferability of the results. Previous TA models were used to create my own version, which was presented in Table 3 (see 5.), this allowing me to present the data collection, analysis, and findings in a transparent manner (Cloutier & Ravasi, 2021). The findings were derived from the data from the interviews and my own observations as a participant at the event. They are considered consistent, and the same or similar results could be obtained if the same research were conducted again under the same circumstances, this assuring the confirmability of the study.

4.6. Limitations No thesis project comes without constraints, the first one being the submission deadline. Furthermore, the opportunities to access volunteers, apart from those who were part of my network, were rather limited, due to data protection rules, causing the sample to be limited to those who participated as THs and as SPs, reducing the sample’s representativeness. Furthermore, my participation at the LSG as a TH, that may have led to bias when creating the interview guide, although I intended to avoid it. Furthermore, it is worth mentioning that conducting interviews via Zoom reduces the possibility to meet the interviewees in person and have the possibility to better analyze their body language together with the statements they provide. Nonetheless, in-person interviews were deemed very costly and time-consuming.

Finally, the three-month gap between the celebration of the event and the interview potentially led the interviewees not to have the freshest memory at the time of providing their statements. This same limitation could be applied to me, as the researcher, since when the event took place, I had still not decided my topic for this thesis. Thus, my notes were written almost a month after the event took place, which may have led to inaccurate representations of my memories from the event.

5. FINDINGS In the following chapter, the findings from the interviews and my own observations are presented. The motivational aspects are introduced first, the second subchapter relating to the factors of satisfaction perceived by the participants and myself. Such findings are presented following the thematic framework created after the coding process in Table 3. Organizing Themes have been used as second-level headings and the Basic Themes as the third-level headings.

Table 3: Thematic framework, created based on the TA models of Rehberg (2005) and Schnitzer et al., (2018)

5.1. Motivation to volunteer Finding the motivational factors that made the participants, and myself, volunteer at the LSG was one of the main goals of this thesis. A big share of the interview guide, and the conversations during the interviews, focused on the reasons that had driven participants to engage in volunteering action. Nonetheless, “Motivation to volunteer” was too broad of a theme to develop it as a whole. Thus, the findings are presented according to the four Basic Themes that form it, according to Table 3.

5.1.1. Benefitting others Helping the event become a success was something that every participant mentioned at some point during the interview as one of their main reasons to volunteer at the LSG in the first place. Presumably, they were aware of how important their contribution was for the LSG, as has also been stated in the Literature review (see 2.1.). Ivar claimed that “these events could not be alive year after year without volunteers (…) so, it is important that I go, it is important that there are volunteers because I want the Games to keep happening”, whereas Matteo viewed that “it is important to benefit the organization when arranging this event because they need volunteers anyway”. Markus, an entrepreneur who in 2021 participated in the Games as a SP for the second time, specified that “the SP has the important task of opening and closing the ski tracks for the competitions. And sometimes if the weather is not so nice, they will affect the competition, because when they ski, the ski track becomes better (….). We really have some meaning for the race”. Some recognized that although they are “only a small part of it” (Sonja, personal communication, 29th of April 2021) their contribution was paramount since “every big event builds up from small things and person by person” (Leena, personal communication, 4th of May 2021).

However, LSG, considered a hallmark or destination event (Solberg & Preuss, 2007; Getz, 2014), also provides a lot of visibility to both Nordic Skiing and to the city of Lahti, that being an aspect the interviewees did not forget. Noora mentioned that “it feels like giving something back to the sport” whereas Ivar, also affirmed that “it is very nice when you can help, especially in an event you are interested in”. Matteo showed awareness about how the Games help put Lahti on the maps since “there not that many, that kind of international events here in Lahti during one year”. Similarly, Aurora claimed that her motivation was closely related to the LSG “because it was in my hometown and of course, ski competition has every year been part of my life”.

I am also very passionate about cross-country skiing, and by participating at an international event the LSG, I feel I am also contributing to keeping the sport’s popularity and wellbeing, keeping alive many other businesses related to it, and helping Lahti grow as a destination at the event that generates the biggest tourism volume in the year. I also feel like a role model for many people who should engage in this kind of action if they feel a certain appreciation for the sport, for the event, and the city.

Nevertheless, Matteo viewed his engagement not only as something that helps the organization but rather as an action that “goes both ways. It is cooperating. They need volunteers and I can also seek for an international atmosphere”, this also being argued by Benson and Wise (2017) (see 2.1.) This quote sharply defines how volunteers also seek an opportunity for self-development and profit from their volunteering, which leads us to move onto the next Basic Theme.

5.1.2. Benefitting oneself As mentioned previously (see 2.2.), volunteering has undergone a process of modernization, people’s volunteering being encouraged by the possibility of enhancing their current or future personal and professional life. Besides asking to describe the reasons why they decided to volunteer at the LSG, participants were also asked about the “expectations” and “goals” they had for their volunteering experience, terms used by Schnitzer et al (2018) in their TA, providing their most egoistic and individualistic answers. As Leena stated, “in every volunteering experience you need to get something to yourself that motivates you to do the voluntary work”.

The possibility to use or improve their language skills was widely commented on during the interviews, this being linked directly to the TH role, having rich language capabilities being the main requirement for applicants to be accepted for the position. According to Sonja, “everything happens in different languages; I need to use my language skills, which are a little bit rusty. And that was one big goal”. Monica also hoped to work “with the Spanish and Andorran team because I speak Catalan and Spanish, and during the event, I also wanted to improve a little bit my Finnish skills”. Olivia, as a person “interested in translation work” also wished to “use my Polish language, since it is my mother tongue”.

Previous research has also expressed that work and career-related motives are determinant influencing factors when deciding to volunteer (see.2.2), and they did not go unnoticed among

participants either. In addition to the previously mentioned example of Olivia, Ivar, a physiologist working at an Olympic Training Center, considered that when he first started volunteering, “it might look good on my CV, as a sports science guy, having been involved in this kind of event”, even though nowadays, after the accumulated volunteering experience throughout the years (see Table 2), he considers that he is “not gaining knowledge and I am not growing as a person or as a professional by going to the event as a volunteer”. Conversely, Noora, a high school graduate, grew up “looking forward to this one weekend, realizing that this is something that I might really want to do in the future. I have looked into different kinds of careers and education that could relate to event management and planning events”. Monica also declared that she had the willingness to “gain experience on that kind of job” even though she does not consider it “something I want to be working in my entire life”. Contrarily, Matteo decided to engage in volunteering because “when I got retired, I got more free time to use”, this argument matching the results from Schnitzer et al (2018).

Literature has widely backed the unquestionable reality that people volunteer, at least partly, intending to meet people (Rehberg, 2005; Wollebæk et al, 2014; Schnitzer, et al., 2018). Volunteering at an event becomes “a nice social context” (Leena, personal communication, 4th of May 2021), who also claims that “some of my best friends are from my volunteering experiences. For instance, one of them is from when I volunteered the 2006 Torino Winter Olympics”. Sonja, who sent me a short email a few minutes after the interview, linked her willingness to socialize to the fact that her “occupation is rather lonesome (office work alone)”, and Ivar also noted that throughout his volunteering time he wanted to have the chance to “meet people who are similar to me, sporty people, especially in the SP side, people who like skiing and to exercise”. Markus claims that his volunteering position has allowed him to “feel a bigger part of the World Cup and skiing community”.

From my own perspective, I am hoping to be involved in the sports industry in the future, and having experience at an international event would most likely look good on my CV. I would be also developing my organizational and time management skills, my language skills - since I am not fluent in many of the languages I had to use during the event- and also my ability to take responsibility and act in situations that are out of my comfort zone. It also served me to network and meet many people I could interview for the completion of this thesis. Without them, I would not have been able to choose this topic and this method for my master’s thesis.

Nevertheless, to achieve those skills, it is necessary to experience the event behind the scenes (Giannoulakis et al. 2008; Uchermann, 2011; Schnitzer et al., 2018; Hayton & Blundell, 2020). Noora claimed that after having attended the event since she was a kid as a spectator, now she “wanted to see all the build-up of the Games” and “be there before and after the gates were opened and closed and see it from another perspective”. Monica found from volunteering “a good opportunity to go and see how the organization works”, Sonja also agreeing with her stating that “I am also interested in seeing how such events are created that I wanted to participate somehow behind the scenes”, whereas Ivar described his goal to be “getting close to those athletes and get to see all the waxing trucks and all the circus from the inside”. Being in touch with the teams and athletes is another benefit that many others also mentioned, like Markus, whose experience from last year as a SP gave him the chance to feel the “atmosphere of competition and being part of the skiers” because his task allowed him “to ski the same tracks as the world’s best skiers just a few minutes before competition”. Olivia was also eager to “meet Polish ski jumpers”. Furthermore, being a volunteer is also “a way to watch the Games for free” (Ivar, personal communication, 8th of May 2021), especially for those who “love cross country skiing” (Sonja, personal communication, 29th of April 2021) or are “interested in ski- jumping” (Olivia, personal communication, 24th of April 2021).

Monica, however, who does not have any skiing background, claimed that she “started to be interested in skiing because my boyfriend was very into it, and when he told he was going volunteering for that event one year before I went, and I started to get curious about it”, which directs us towards analyzing how external elements may majorly influence the decision to volunteer.

5.1.3. External factors The constituents that are not related to either self or external benefit have also been present in previous literature (Farrel et al., 1998) (see 2.2.). One might decide to volunteer for the first time influenced by someone else or might decide to return because of the gratifying overall previous experience. Reflecting on my own experience, I started volunteering at the LSG in 2018. My girlfriend at that time had been volunteering at the Innsbruck 2012 Youth Winter Olympics, and she wanted to also participate at the LSG, since we attended the event the year before as spectators. Given that the only role I could fulfill was the TH one, preliminarily the only one that did not require fluency in Finnish, I selected it as my first preference. I had never thought of volunteering at an event like this myself. So, in that respect, I had a very clear

influence from another person. Noora’s volunteering journey began in 2016 at the LSG thanks to “a family friend of ours who had the food stands”, whereas Ivar adopted this habit from his father, who had been “a member of the same track and field team as me and has also been helping on that”. Nonetheless, some others did not have any external influence, but instead, they were committed to being role models and transmit this habit to other people, just like Leena who has “asked my friends to join me at the Games”, or Markus, who signed his son up for the SP role “without asking him. I just thought he would like it anyway”. Aurora also considered her “daughter, who is 18 now, should do it. She speaks very good English and she is learning German”. This shows how good the volunteering culture in Finland is, something that Olivia accurately points out by saying that “in Poland, it is maybe not that popular, but in Finland, volunteering is a huge thing. People actually do it a lot”.

From what experience has allowed me to learn, it seems that in Finland, people from all ages get involved in this and new generations are transmitted that helping in these kinds of events is a good thing that keeps the event and the sport alive. It seems to be a cultural thing, that almost becomes a habit or a tradition. By all appearances, people who have a stable job situation, a comfortable life, are more prone to volunteer, in concordance with Hayton and Blundell’s (2020) argument (see 2.1.). In the case of this thesis, this fact might be linked to 8 out of 9 people having completed higher education. The welfare state in the Nordic Countries and the good work and private life balance enhances participation in actions such as volunteering.

As mentioned in the Literature review (see 2.3.), the satisfaction from previous volunteering experiences is a key determinant at the time of retaining volunteers, which is one of the most challenging tasks any event’s organization faces (Wicker & Frick, 2016). The returning volunteers -seven out of nine- were asked about how their previous experience had affected their motivation to go back this year. According to Sonja, the main reason to repeat “was the good experience from last year. The whole TH community was really positive and supportive, and it made me feel good. That’s the reason why I wanted to come again”, coinciding with Olivia’s viewpoint, as, although she switched from the Info Center to being a TH, she stated that “if I was a volunteer in 2019 and it was pretty great, it could be the same this year”. Ivar also reported that “I knew what my task was, and I knew I was going to love it”, matching with Leena’s argument who affirmed that “based on my previous experiences and all the years that I have been participating, I know quite well what to expect”.

Nevertheless, a big part of the satisfaction can also be caused by the relationship created with the ones in charge of the organization, especially with the Team Leaders of each section, the person who with volunteers were in close contact. For most, it was very important to be able to deal with a chief who “is nice and treats you in a proper way, informs you of your duties and listens to you if you have something to say: if this person has those features it is easier to cooperate with him or her” (Matteo, personal communication, 28th of April 2021). Sonja also indicated that “the first year, it was, of course, important to get feedback that I did well and that I was the right person for that kind of position”, in the same way as Ivar, who felt lucky of having “got on really well with the Team Leaders that I have had, and there was never any bad or unwelcoming feeling”. Exceptionally, Leena, who has volunteered at the event since 2007, claimed thanks to her background, she does not “need that much guidance from the TH Team Leader. So, in the end, it doesn’t have that much of an effect on my motivation to participate. I think I wouldn’t decide not to come only because of that. The situation would need to be very bad, and I don’t think something like that happening is realistic”.

From my personal experience, my Team Leader always welcomed me into the event whenever I showed interest to participate. She was always clear when giving instruction, and when expressing what she expected from us as THs. However, she also openly showed her gratitude to everyone donating their time for the cause, this creating a pleasant group atmosphere. She seemed to value my skills greatly, which enhanced my happiness and my willingness and decision to participate again.

5.1.4. Covid-19, influencing volunteering motivation In 2021, the LSG, like most other major sporting events that were arranged, took place, as Mohanty, et al., (2021) state, under strict safety measures owing to the Covid-19 pandemic (see 3.1.). The situation in Finland, compared to other European countries, has been fairly better, due to the strict regulations and high social awareness the country’s population has shown (European Centre for Disease Prevention Control, 2021). However, despite the relatively good situation in Finland, people were “unsure about how it was going to be organized” (Olivia, personal communication, 24th of April 2021). Both SPs, Markus and Ivar, respectively showed they were “very worried, like I guess everyone else, about whether there was going to be any Games at all”, but they had “no doubt that if it was organized, that’s good enough for me and I would be there. Covid wasn’t affecting my decision”. Luckily, in line with Horky’s (2020) results (see 2.4.), and like Leena claims, “the main thing was to be able to organize the Games

and they got to do it”, as canceling the event would have been prejudicial for the athletes, who make a big part of their living from competing, the LSG organization, which receives important economic contributions from broadcasting rights, and the spectators, who, besides not being able to attend the event live, would have also been deprived of following it virtually.

Everyone from the Red and Yellow Bubble had to be tested before entering the bubbles (see 3.1). Once the volunteers belonging to these two bubbles had been tested “you could not leave the bubble” (Noora, personal communication, 29th of April 2021), requiring that “we could only be at home and at the stadium. But no buses, no restaurant, no commercial markets, not seeing any other people besides family members” (Matteo, personal communication, 28th of April 2021). During duty hours, each bubble was designated a limited area within the stadium, whereas outside duty hours, one could only go home walking or by private transport and be in contact only with those who live in the same house. Otherwise, those who could not go home and were provided accommodation had to go straight there -walking or by car- and be in touch only with those who were part of their bubble. Different opinions were found regarding how having to take a test affected their motivation. Leena stated that she “went through all the testing protocols. And that sounded reasonable”, but Olivia, who was a bit more skeptical, affirmed that “it was pretty annoying to take the test and to have all this stress”.

However, SPs were “in the Blue Bubble, and we didn’t need to be tested” as they “were assigned certain shifts, we knew when to ski and when not to, so we would not be hanging out next to the athletes. Maybe in the bubble, where THs were, they were mostly in closed spaces and close to the athletes and team staff. So, I guess that those ones needed to be `clean´ to be able to volunteer” (Ivar, personal communication, 8th of May 2021). Both SPs, respectively, agreed that “it was safe” since they “were isolated quite well”. Personally, it seemed rather unreasonable and irresponsible from the LSG organization to have the entire Blue Bubble access the venue untested. They were inside the same room for the time when they were not having their skiing shifts and anyone there could have been asymptomatic, especially when no age restrictions applied to obtain a SP spot at the Games, and most participants are preliminarily young and healthy people. All safety measures to separate the Red Bubble from others were strict and well applied, but within the Blue Bubble, I am under the impression that there would have been room for improvement. Another reason for this could have been the willingness to reduce costs, as each Antigen Test cost 95 euros (Lahti Ski Games, 2021).

Nevertheless, almost every volunteer seemed to accept the restrictions and it did not appear to be an influencing factor for their motivation. Matteo said “we have to receive what they give us”, adding that the LSG organization has “bigger problems than my opinion about how Covid- 19 will disturb my motivation to volunteer at the event”. Aurora also agreed on that, stating that “if it helps to fight this disease, then we have to do it. Life is not always just comfortable”. Laura, a doctor by profession, also declared that “since I work in the health care, I got to know that all the safety measures were taken care of efficiently. So, it didn’t really affect my decision to participate”.

Some others found even positive outcomes from their opportunity to volunteer at the event. Monica and Aurora, the only two ones who did not have any previous volunteering experience at the LSG, provided answers that directly linked their motivation to volunteer to the vastly reduced options for socializing due to the pandemic. Monica, a university teacher who had been teaching from home for a year, defined that during the pandemic “often it felt that a Monday, a Thursday or a Saturday were exactly the same day. So, then meeting my friends or spending quality time with my boyfriend became also more difficult”. This is why she “wanted to have something to do during a weekend. I wanted to meet new people”. Aurora was in a very similar situation since she “had sat down home for a long time. I was laid off from work”. Moreover, in Sonja’s opinion, the fact that the Games were celebrated during an exceptional period was “more like a boost for me to apply, because I knew that everything was going to be totally different from the previous year”. From a personal perspective, this year, this being a view that no participant presented, I also volunteered in solidarity to the event and to those volunteers who, due to their age or health condition, could not take part, which according to my perception may have been many, changing Farrel et al.’s (1998) meaning of the solidarity purpose of volunteering. I felt that I would be able to provide a good service and help the event succeed while supporting the sport that I like since I have good social and language skills. Furthermore, I am young, healthy and I do not belong to any risk group. Thus, this year, when so many people who had been devoted to their volunteering task for many years could not attend due to this pandemic, my sense of responsibility reached a higher level. My mentor as a TH comes to my mind. She has been involved in the LSG as a TH of the Italian team for almost four decades. She is over 80 years old and this year she obviously could not participate. Last year, in the 2020 edition of the LSG, she told me she hoped I could be there next year because she was unsure about her being able to attend anymore. I did not want to let her down either.

5.2. Volunteering satisfaction in the context of Covid-19 The second part of the interview focused on obtaining information about the participant’s overall satisfaction with their volunteering experience as well as understanding how that satisfaction was affected by the existence of the Covid-19 risk and restriction protocols. The organization’s handling of these protocols to ensure the smooth running of the Games, as well as the safety of all people belonging to the event, was also analyzed. In this case, a separate subchapter on how the overall volunteering experience was influenced by the pandemic was not created as I understood that Covid-19 had a holistic effect on that matter. Hence, the upcoming subchapter was divided into how content participants were with regards to the Organizing Committee, their tasks, and their personal experience.

5.2.1. Organizational level Every involved person’s safety at the venue of the event was the main priority for the LSG’s Organizing Committee. They implemented strict measures to avoid any infection and the event ended without anyone testing positive, which was considered a success, a feeling that the volunteers who participated in this thesis shared. Monica, representing the general impression, stated feeling no danger of her or anyone around her contributing to the spread of the virus as she “knew from the very beginning that if I was in there, I had no corona and no other person inside the venue had it either, because it’s the only way you could get in”.

I had assumed that strict measures were going to be applied, as the Organization of the LSG has always been so proud about how successfully they have arranged those Games in the past, and they did not want this year to be an exception, despite the time being exceptional. Probably this year, the term “success” had a different connotation. Whereas in previous years, success would relate to attending spectators reaching a certain number, the atmosphere being cheerful, the races being exciting because the course was well designed or due to other parameters that made the competition enjoyable, etc., this year it meant making sure the Games would be organized safely, without any cases of Covid-19 infections. I was one of the four people who were offered accommodation because I did not have a car and my only way to travel back home would have been by public transport, which was, by no means, accepted. However, during our time at the accommodation, other guests at that hostel had their meals in the same dining rooms as us. So, we were not isolated from other people. It is understandable that maybe not all accommodation facilities have enough room to create a bubble in it, but that was a mistake from the organization, because the Red Bubble we were supposed to be in, was penetrated several times by people who were not meant to be in it. That affected my satisfaction

to a certain extent since the strict restrictions were not respected at all times. Luckily, in this case, the dining room was big enough to be able to reserve some tables for those belonging to the event.

Furthermore, although all volunteers had been instructed by the Games’ Organization to make sure everyone wore masks, people from certain countries’ teams, who may have different habits regarding the use of such masks, were either wearing them incorrectly (having their nose uncovered), wearing inappropriate masks (using their neck cover to cover their face) or not wearing them at all. I remember that I had to repeatedly be telling many staff members of one particular team to put a face mask on. Matteo was another one who was aware of the fact that “we have to also be examples; we have to inform the teams and follow if they are wearing the masks or not. If there were too many people not wearing the masks, there was a big risk that the local authorities would cancel and stop the whole competition”. Sonja, who shared these views, was also critical to the management of the event, stating that “there were teams that did not wear masks and didn’t keep the two-meter distance. So, I know some of us were saying to people to please wear a mask. The organizer could have been more strict with them”. Personally, I feel that it was good the Organization informed us about how to behave if we noticed people not wearing masks, but they should have also communicated to us how we should act if this problem happened regularly during the Games. We did not have any further power than just to remind everyone to use masks. Finnish police were also present at the event making sure the Games ran smoothly, but they did not seem to be willing to take any responsibility for making sure facemasks were worn, whereas the Organization claimed that the Police should be in charge of that. Passing the responsibility to each other was a big flaw the Organization should be, at least partly, held accountable for.

It seemed reasonable to separate the people in bubbles, which caused each member of the bubble to have access only to a certain area of the stadium. Nonetheless, the facilities lacked space to be able to keep distance, at least, in the TH meeting room, where we were all sitting next to each other. Leena also confessed that “the TH office was so small that it was hard to keep distance”. However, it seemed like the SPs “had two rooms and we had quite a lot of room for us. But of course, if the infection situation would have been worse, I am not sure if it would have been enough, because the rooms were not so big and there were quite many of us” (Markus, personal communication, 3rd of May 2021).

Another flaw in the organization that several THs commented, was the fact that the teams they got assigned for their tasks (see 4.2.2.) changed quite much throughout the Games. However, two reasons could be associated with this issue: firstly, due to pandemic, many of the teams that were supposed to come did not in the end. According to Monica, she “at first, was assigned Spain and Andorra. I was also put to the Italian group. But then, because of the pandemic, Andorra and Spain could not come, or they just canceled, and I was assigned a new team which was France”. Aurora also commented that “it changed quite a bit, and in the end, I got Slovakia and the Czech Republic, even though I don’t speak those languages”. However, the second reason, also related to Covid-19, was related to the difficulties to obtain as many THs as desired, which made the assignation of the team rather miscellaneous, and obliged many THs to take responsibility for many teams that were preliminarily not assigned to them.

5.2.2. Task level: challenges and gratification As mentioned in the “Participants” subchapter (see 4.2.2.) THs are on-site volunteers, which required them to be involved in certain duties prior to the commencement of the event. Matteo was very explicit about it:

“Some of us had to be at the airport to receive the competitor from different flights and organize the receival of the competitors. I know that many ladies were for many days at very late hours at the Helsinki airport while waiting for some flights, some delayed flight, get some transport from the airport to their homes and be at home at 2 o´clock at night and after a few hours be at the office here in Lahti. Then, at the end of the Games, we have to arrange the return journeys for the competitors, buses, and flights. So, I think those are the most demanding job are settled to the THs.”

Noora also reckoned that “the time at the airport, when the team members arrived, the transportation and all that stuff was a bit chaotic”. On the contrary, at the venue, during the event, two feelings predominated among the participants, including myself. Firstly, especially in the TH section, both experienced and non-experienced volunteers sensed a clear lack of instruction at the time of completing the assigned task. Aurora specified feeling like they “were not told exactly what to do. I think there could have been a little more guidance about what we are supposed to do” Matteo, in agreement, noted that their duty “was not so strictly advised or informed to us every time. So, that means there could be some development in the TH activities regarding how to divide the duties to each of us.” From my perspective as a participant, I also

felt that my tasks were not clearly defined. I was mostly walking around trying to discover if I could help somehow, but whenever I approached the team trucks to ask about it, they would always answer that everything was under control. Once I had received the same answer four or five times, I decided not to bother them anymore and wait for them to ask if they needed anything. It was rather discouraging and at that moment I felt, both bored, and as if my presence were not needed there, which leads me to mention the second feeling. I was “unlucky” to have big teams like Sweden, Norway, and Italy, with many years of experience in this kind of event. This is a sensation that many others shared with me as well, such as Monica, who commented being “a little unsatisfied because everything was super calm (…) if there were no big problems they would not come asking for help”. Sonja commented that “there were not that many things to care of” compared to the previous edition, even though “some of those tasks last year were related to the flower ceremony and so on, which I was part of”. But at the same time, it was understandable that competing team members wanted to avoid any unnecessary contact, even though the safety at the event was well ensured. The SP section also had their time to exercise lessened, and as Ivar remarked, the fact that “I was not able to ski as much and have that much freedom, which made it more boring”.

Being a volunteer, mostly in the role of TH, entails the possibility of having to face challenging circumstances. The wellbeing of the athletes is one of the biggest priorities at the Games, and their integrity is also the one who is mostly at stake since ski-jumping can be dangerously affected by the wind and cross-country skiing is an extremely aerobically demanding sport that brings the physique of the athletes to the limits of their capacity. In the event of some misfortune taking place, THs are required to be the first contact of that athlete to communicate with them and if necessary, accompany them while they being attended by the health services, both as a representative of the organization, but most likely, also to conduct the labor of interpreter. Monica, despite not having previous experience or fluency in the languages she was meant to use, felt she would have been “capable of managing a situation that was a little out of my control”, had that particular situation taken place at some point. Similarly, Aurora, who unfortunately needed to take care of “an episode with that athlete having a heart attack”, also learned that “I can act and make decisions in a crisis like that, and it didn’t stop me or make me freeze”. This probably also had some effect on their self-esteem, agreeing with Gagné and Deci (2005), and also proved that the Organization does a good job at the time of recruiting qualified volunteers for the tasks that every position requires.

5.2.3. Personal level Personally, the fact that the LSG were celebrated in a Covid-19 context had both positive and negative consequences. Several restrictions affected everyone’s enjoyment to a higher or lower extent, but it cannot be ignored that the feeling was rather different from the two previous times I had volunteered. As discussed previously (see 5.2.1.), all volunteers were strict at wearing masks, but it does not imply that the mask was not a synonym of discomfort. Unquestionably, masks had to be worn while being indoors (see 3.1.). In fact, I did not even question the fact that it would be necessary to wear them at all places inside the venue, but not everyone saw eye to eye with me on that. Matteo deemed that “it was not so nice to have to wear the masks also outside”, and Monica backed his argument expressing that “the negative thing was how annoying it was to breathe with the mask, because the days were cold, and the masks would get wet”. Nonetheless, the inconvenience of wearing masks was mentioned only by THs, as they were the ones who, without exception, had to wear them at all times. SPs, on the other hand, “would take the masks off while skiing” (Ivar, personal communication, 8th of May 2021), which potentially led the discomfort of their use not to even be mentioned as a handicap for their satisfaction.

As mentioned in the literature review (see 2.4.) professional elite sporting events have been taking place without an audience -despite regulations differing from one country to another-, and this was also the case at the 2021 LSG. This had dissimilar impacts on the satisfaction of the volunteers, some of them saying that “you couldn’t really get the whole experience. There was no audience and that’s a big part of the whole event” (Noora, personal communication, 29th of April 2021). Aurora also considered that “it would have been great to have the people around, especially on the Saturday night when they have the fireworks and everything, but hopefully next year”. Similarly, Markus claimed that he is “looking forward to next year’s Games, hopefully without Covid, or at least not affecting so much and with the possibility to have spectators around”. Nonetheless, many others looked at the other side of the coin. Sonja, for instance, opined that since “there was no public, it was a privilege to be there, and it was also easier to get to the good spots during the races, so we could see the races well, which was maybe the best part”. Olivia and Monica were grateful for having the chance to volunteer during the pandemic, as they respectively declared that “because of covid-19, there was no possibility to be in Lahti as a spectator” and “it would have impossible for me to go and see the Games live without going as a volunteer”. It is true that being a volunteer, especially in a section that is involved with the races or the athletes, is a fantastic way to be able to “follow up

the sport closely” (Leena, personal communication, 4th of May 2021). However, Ivar, a SP who has previously been in the role of a TH, commented the following:

“I am happier being a SP because this way, whenever there is skiing, you are there. You are close to skiing and get to see all the stuff. But when you are a TH, you might need to go somewhere, and you miss the competitions”

I must agree with Ivar on that. Being able to see competitions live and for free was a big part of my satisfaction, from a selfish perspective, which was also part of the reasons why I decided to volunteer again. However, I was aware from last year’s experience that I might not be able to see the Games because I would need to be involved in some other tasks while the races were going on. I partook in Anti-Doping tasks in 2020 as part of the TH duties, which meant that our training for that task was provided by a representative of the Finnish Anti- Doping Agency while the race was ongoing, and I missed a big part of the competition because of that, as many of my colleagues did as well. This year, there were no other extra tasks like Anti-Doping or flower ceremony (see 5.2.1.), decreasing the overall level of activity.

Once the event was over, I had a feeling of relief, satisfaction, and emptiness at the same time. I was very happy about my participation, and the event’s conclusion allowed me to reflect on my contribution to the event. This year, I did not have the feeling I had contributed that much, since I barely had anything to do, but I enjoy the feeling of thinking that, even though I was just a tiny part of the success, it would not have been the same without me. It gave me the possibility to self-evaluate myself and see what I could do better next year since I am sure I will apply for the same position again. This was a collective feeling, Aurora showing to be “really pleased afterwards, it was hard working, long days, lots of walking. But all in all, it was a really nice experience”. Noora, for her part, expressed that “after the last day, you come home, and you are very tired and but there is still a lot of good energy because you could do something that you actually really love”.

Despite all restrictions and the several flaws that were identified at the organization, it must also be acknowledged that the overall impression perceived by participants in this study was satisfactory. Laura: reckoned that “the Organizing Committee did its best and it got the best out of the situation. But obviously the event was much more boring with all the restriction and without the spectators”. Ivar, despite the pandemic, expressed having “no regret for going” since despite being aware of the restrictions “mentally, it didn’t have any kind of effect. It was

just like any other year when it comes to enjoying”. However, he also recognized that “not being able to ski that much” or “be close to the athletes (…) made it not as nice as previous years”. Olivia admitted she “can imagine that it was a really difficult situation and time to organize anything. But, in general, I think it was a great experience”. Matteo provided a self- gratifying statement commenting to be “satisfied in the sense that I did what they expected from me”. Some of them were even able to provide a scale of satisfaction or a grade on how happy they were with the experience, Markus commenting that “without Covid, it was 100 and now it was maybe more like 70 because 30 percent was the atmosphere from the competition and the spectators”, Noora also providing a grade “from a scale from 1 to 10, I would say around 8 o 9 probably”. Aurora “So, I think it went really well, so I would give them an A+”.

As a final note, almost unanimously, participants ratified their condition of being a volunteer, Olivia stating that “it’s a pretty nice experience that you can do something, and you don’t want money for that”, but instead, in Ivar’s view, “just the fact of helping gives you compensation of doing something good”. Moreover, Matteo claimed that working for free should not affect the performance and he assured that “I will do my duties as I am expected, even though I am not paid for this”, and Aurora believed that “the world would be a better place if we did something without thoughts like `I need to be paid´”.

6. DISCUSSION

This Master’s thesis aimed at understanding what the motivational factors to volunteer at the Lahti Ski Games were, as to how those had been affected at 2021 edition due to the Covid- 19 pandemic. Moreover, it also intended to identify the satisfaction elements from their volunteering experience and to understand how Covid-19 played a role in that aspect. The following sub-chapters discuss the established research questions (see 1.3.) in accordance with the obtained empirical results.

6.1. Generosity, selfishness, or both? The Thematic Analysis framework created first formed the Organizing Theme “Motivation to volunteer”, created by four Basic Themes. In the first one, “Benefitting others”, participants and I acknowledged the importance to help the event succeed and the relevance of the event itself for the future of the sport and of Lahti as a destination claiming that LSG is a destination event as stated by Solberg and Preuss (2007) and Getz (2014) (see 2.1.). Given that six out of nine interviewees had declared to have some connection to Lahti (see 5.1.1.), their willingness to contribute to the local community seems obvious. This demonstrated that volunteers are, at least, partly intrinsically motivated to volunteer, in line with Wollebæk et al.’s, (2014) collective volunteering theory (see 2.2.). However, under the Basic Theme “Benefitting oneself”, as represented in Table 3, “interest in practicing or improving languages”, “gaining skills to improve future career opportunities”, “meeting people and networking”, or “experiencing the event from inside” were abundant among interviewees, concurring with the findings from previous research (Giannoulakis et al. 2008, Wollebæk et al., 2014, Schnitzer, 2018) (see 2.2.). Meeting people was a unanimously commented factor, but a clear distinction must be made between the two different positions regarding the other factors. Team Hosts seemed more eager to develop and practice certain skills, improve their CV or develop a career, whereas Ski Patrols aimed at enjoying skiing and have fun, making it obvious that the levels of pressure and responsibility are different in each position. Moreover, given that one-third of interviewees were foreigners, these kinds of events could potentially enhance their integration in the society of the country they reside in. This, therefore, made participants relate to the reflexive theory of volunteering from Wollebæk et al, (2014) (see 2.2.), as they were considered to be extrinsically motivated, namely, driven by factors that were external to the volunteering itself.

Deci and Ryan (1980) describe intrinsic motivation as an internal stimulus that encourages a person to engage voluntarily in an activity that will probably satisfy their desires. This directs us to believe that anyone intrinsically motivated engages in certain activity consciously. All participants, including myself, met this criterion, following a self-determined behavior pattern. (see 2.2.). Nonetheless, some extensively experienced volunteers fit into the introjected regulation extrinsic behavioral form, as they stated their participation having become “a tradition”, their motivation evolving from self-determined into mechanistic or automated (Gagné & Deci, 2005). Introjected regulation had also been linked to ego and self-esteem lifting, which was a condition that was met in many participants’ cases, who declared feeling “proud” to be “an important part of the event”. However, it was also stated that “it is nice to help without getting paid for it”. Thus, Andreoni’s (1989, 1990) Impure Altruism theory applies to the results of this thesis, as both egoistic and altruistic driving forces are present. However, Saito’s (2015) statement concerning IA related to participating to avoid the shame of not doing so was not met in this case, although Ivar stated that “if I did not, I would feel I am not taking the right or good way to do it (…) even though my integrity would not collapse because of that”. Nonetheless, this appears to be linked to personal ethics rather than to avoiding any sort of shame.

The clear discrepancy to previous research was that nobody mentioned “tangible effects ” or “rewards” (Schintzer et al., 2018) such as “outfits and equipment” (Wollebæk et al., 2014) as motivational factors, making me believe that the extrinsic motivation of the participants is only related to intangible benefits, related to the experience, like Wicker, 2017, Schnitzer et al., 2018 Wicker and Frick, 2016 and Ahn, 2018 claim(see 2.3.). Thus, this fact could be linked to the fact that almost every volunteer has completed higher education, and has or has had a qualified job (see Table 2).

6.2. What else motivates me? The third Basic Theme from the “Motivation to volunteer” was “External factors”, in which the influence of external agents, such as a family or friends, the volunteering culture in Finland, and the impact of previous experience were discussed as reasons to decide to volunteer at the LSG. The first and the second factors were somehow interrelated, as having the idea of volunteering instilled from or to another person speaks highly about how widespread the idea of donating your time for free is in Finland and the Nordic Countries. Nevertheless, among the “External factors”, returning volunteers’ satisfaction from previous volunteering experiences

was an element that carried an important weight when deciding to volunteer again. This included both the overall satisfaction and the relationship that volunteers had with their Team Leader. All returning volunteers unanimously stated that it affected their motivation positively, in line with Wu et al. (2019) and Cho et al, (2020)’s findings.

Nonetheless, there were significant differences between the two evaluated roles regarding the feeling of working, as, on the one hand, those who had been THs provided statements that related to long working days, completing tasks, speaking different languages face to face and via phone, having time management skills. Conversely, both SPs stated that their job “did almost not feel like working or volunteering”, but they felt, instead, having the chance to practice their hobby in a special environment, which is probably why, their satisfaction is more easily achieved and why it is easier for them to go back, establishing a strong relationship between them and the Service Quality-Satisfaction-Behavioural Intention paradigm (Jen et al. 2011) and the Service-Loyalty Theory (Fu et al., 2018). Nevertheless, all of them showed to be highly satisfied with their experience and they intend to volunteer next year.

6.3. Why volunteer during Covid? Regarding the impact, the pandemic had on the volunteers at the Games, negative, neutral, and positive aspects were identified. Many were, owing to Covid-19, uncertain about the celebration of the events, but most of them stated that the pandemic did not influence their decision, as they were familiar with the protocols. However, the restrictions applied differently in each one of the bubbles, such as having the entire Blue Bubble untested seemed rather unreasonable from a safety perspective. Several of them, including myself, had their motivation positively influenced by the celebration of the event, as it gave them the possibility to socialize, something that had been highly restricted during the time the LSG happened, or the chance to see how the event was arranged differently due to the pandemic.

For as long as events are taking place during the pandemic, as McLarnon and Heron (2021) show, the Covid-19 passport could, without a doubt, be an effective tool to ensure safety at the event, while offering the opportunity to also accommodate an audience. Personally, I also observed that my motivation to volunteer was very much related to a sense of solidarity towards the event and those who, due to Covid-19, could not participate. The “solidarity” motivational category from Farrel et al., (1998) took a new shape for me because of the pandemic.

6.4. What made me happy? And what did not? Following onto the participants’ satisfaction at the event, three Basic Themes were identified. Firstly, on an “Organizational level”, praises and critique were directed towards the management of the LSG. Even though it was considered that, given the circumstances, the event was arranged safely, some flaws were found regarding the responsibility to ensure facemasks were worn by everyone or the lack of room in the facilities to maintain safety distances and the miscellaneous team assignation of THs, although this fact must be attributed to a clear shortage of volunteers the Organizing Committee had to deal with, as expressed also by Ludvigsen and Hayton (2020). These are aspects the management of the LSG might need to reconsider for the future.

On a “Task level”, big differences were perceived in the load of tasks of each volunteering position. THs, as on-site volunteers (Doherty, 2009), had time-consuming and demanding tasks to take care of before the event began, concerning picking up the teams from the airport. SPs, contrarily, as Games time volunteers, are involved only while the Games are taking place, having the only task of skiing the trails before and after the competitions (Fairley et al., 2014). Some THs stressed that since their duties were not clearly defined, “there could be some development in the TH activities”. However, all agreed that during the event, given the restrictions, their activity was quite reduced, THs not having much to take care of, and SPs not getting to ski as much or being isolated from the athletes. However, it is understandable that all needed measures were taken to avoid any type of contact with the competitors and their team members, who would ask for help only when it was essential. Nonetheless, several of them felt to be able to handle situations that were out of their control, this enhancing their self- esteem, and thus, increasing their satisfaction, agreeing with Wollebæk et al. (2014), Schnitzer et al. (2018), and Hallmann and Zehrer (2017).

Finally, at a “Personal level”, positive and negative elements impacting the experience were recognized. The discomfort of the mask and the event taking place without the spectators were the biggest disappointments for the participants. However, not having public allowed the volunteers to access privileged spots to watch the races, this being the considered “the best part” by several of them. Furthermore, once the event was over, the overall feeling was replete with fulfillment and gladness, which again brings us back to the idea that, even though people act altruistically, that altruism has a positive effect on themselves, establishing a clear relation with the theory of IA (Andreoni, 1989, 1990).

6.5. Concluding remarks Participants have shown to be both intrinsically and extrinsically motivated during the volunteering, extrinsic behavior being dominant overall. However, due to the limited positions that were studied, it remains unclear whether people from other sections at the LSG would still volunteer even if their task would not fulfill their selfish wishes. Does one’s willingness to satisfy their egoistic ambitions push a person to be altruistic, or are their selfless principles a path to consequently also satisfy their selfish desires? It would be necessary to understand the reasons why people in other roles decide to volunteer to be able to answer this question, as many of them might not benefit from their task in the same way as THs and SPs, who have the chance to follow the sport closely and have contact with the competing athletes and team members. Each role requiring different skills qualifications may also affect this fact. Likewise, it would be crucial to understand from which factors other volunteers would achieve satisfaction to discuss this manner comprehensively.

7. CONCLUSIONS Throughout this master’s thesis, the motivational and satisfaction factors to volunteer at the LSG were analyzed, aiming at also understanding how these elements were affected by the Games taking place during the Covid-19 pandemic. It has been widely argued that volunteering has undergone a modernization process (Wollebæk et al., 2014; Schnitzer, 2018), claiming that nowadays people are more extrinsically motivated to engage in volunteering, that is, for reasons that are external to the event, rather than for the pure joy of contributing to the event’s success. In this study, although both behaviors were present among participants, reasons related to extrinsic motivation (e.g. practice languages, follow the sport live and for free, develop skills and career opportunities, meeting people, etc.) were prioritized over intrinsic ones, evincing that modern volunteering trends, driven by egoistic reasons, are met here. They could be exemplified with a quote from one of the interviews: “If I needed to say if my volunteering was more about selfish interest or more about altruistically contributing to the event, I would need to start from the selfish side. I wanted to follow the Games and I found volunteering an interesting way to do that”. Nevertheless, external factors such as the influence of others, the volunteering culture, and the satisfaction from previous experience were also influencing factors, although of lower relevance.

Covid-19’s impact was reckoned as only one of the factors affecting motivation, whereas it was considered that the pandemic had a comprehensive influence on the satisfaction of the volunteering experience, which demonstrates the higher impact of Covid-19 on the overall experience than on the motivation to participate as a volunteer. Nevertheless, participants provided enough evidence to claim that they were satisfied with their collaboration and the overall experience at the 2021 LSG, claiming that the pandemic barely affected their decision to volunteer. Nonetheless, given that the two investigated roles had completely different responsibilities, the results regarding motivational and satisfactional factors showed disparities between members of the different roles, despite similarities also being found. Nonetheless, I must acknowledge that the contrast in representation between both roles -7 THs and 2 SPs- may have also affected the obtained results in that respect. Anyhow, it must be stated that mostly, results are coherent with findings from previous research.

7.1. Limitations With regards to the limitations of this research, I noticed that some participants were rather unprepared and fell rather short when answering the questions during the interviews. Two of

them even asked if they could receive the questions in advance or if there could be any way to make themselves ready for the interview. To avoid obtaining biased answers, I prevented this from happening, but it made me think that maybe the aims of the thesis could have been introduced further. This could have also been caused by the time gap between the event and the interviews, a factor that could have also affected me when writing my “memory notes”. Moreover, the resource constraints regarding access to people I faced while conducting this thesis, may cause the scope of it to be rather narrow.

7.2. Contribution and Further Research This thesis contributes to understanding what factors motivate and satisfy volunteers at major sports events, data that could be valuable for the management of LSG or other similar sports events, since, like Wicker (2017, p. 334) states “it is less clear how sports institutions use this information for volunteer management (…) and to promote volunteerism”. Furthermore, it provides new insights and knowledge on how sports events volunteers’ motivation and satisfaction can be affected by Covid-19, since, as far as I know, no other study can be found in the body of literature on this specific topic, and “there is little insight into what and how sports organizations and their governance have been impacted” (Byers et al., 2021).

Thus, due to the novelty, and limitations of the thesis and given that the Covid-19 pandemic situation will constantly evolve as the population is vaccinated and the same conditions will hardly be repeated in the same location and context, the topic should be further investigated to more holistically understand the impacts of Covid-19 in social happenings like the LSG and its participants, including a broader selection of participants, as their responsibilities, and potentially, their motivation and satisfaction, differ from one role to another. The links between altruism and egoism should also be further studied. Finally, this thesis contributes to the use of qualitative methods to research volunteering, especially recognizing autoethnography as a research method, encouraging other researchers to use it in the future when studying this topic.

Throughout this entire master’s thesis, volunteering has been the center of discussion, and its values have been acknowledged throughout the entire text. After having been submerged into it for several months, and having gone through many ups and many downs, I would like to conclude with a quote from one of the interviewees that should be an inspiration to us all:

“These volunteering things are only a couple of weeks in one year. But there are 52 weeks in one year, so I have to be motivated about what I do during the other 49 or 50 weeks”.

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APPENDICES Appendix A: Interview guide

INTERVIEW GUIDE FOR TEAM HOSTS and SKI PATROLS Interviewee: Date: CONCEPT: QUESTIONS: Ethics of the research • Welcoming and introduction of the interviewer • Permission for recording • Information on the course of the interview • Agreement on the planned duration of the interview • Information on the use of the data • Declaration of consent to record • Do you have any questions before we start? Introduction and • Your age, nationality, level of education, and occupation background of the • Background: how do you relate yourself to the sport? interviewee • Have you volunteered at the Lahti Ski Games before and how many times? • How did you first find out about volunteering at this event? • If you are a regular volunteer, why have you continued to volunteer at this event? Motivation • Why did you choose to volunteer at the Lahti Ski Games in the first place? • Why did you apply exactly for that position? • What kind of expectation did you have when you decided to apply for the volunteering position? • What kind of aims or goals did you have when you decided to apply for the volunteering position? • How does volunteering make you feel? • What factors influenced you volunteering in Lahti this year? • Would you feel different if did not volunteer? Why? Motivation affected • Did the pandemic Covid-19 affect your decision to volunteer and why? by Covid-19 • If you have been volunteering previously, how have your expectations and aims changed due to the covid-19 pandemic? • How did you expect your safety during the event would be taken care of? • Did you have to get tested for Covid-19? If not, why not? • How did the fact of getting tested affect your decision of volunteering at the Lahti Ski Games? • In which way do you believe the organization has communicated the Covid-19 risk protocols correctly or incorrectly? • What kind of measures were taken to ensure safety due to Covid-19? • Were those expectations met by the organization? • In what ways do you believe the restrictions were handled correctly or incorrectly? • Relating to the previous two questions, how did the correct or incorrect handling of restrictions affect your motivation while volunteering at the event or in between event days?

Satisfaction from • Has the behavior of managers from previous years affected your view about previous years volunteering at this event or your decision about volunteering? affecting motivation • In what way are you satisfied or dissatisfied with your experience overall at the 2021 Lahti Ski Games?

Closing • Can I contact you again in case there is something that needs clarification or if there is another specific issue that would need to be covered? • Remind the interviewee of the ethics of research • Thank you!

Appendix B: Refined Interview guide

INTERVIEW GUIDE FOR TEAM HOSTS and SKI PATROLS Interviewee: Date: CONCEPT QUESTIONS Introduction and Ethics of • Welcoming and introduction of the interviewer the research • Permission for recording (START RECORDING!!!!) • Information on the course of the interview • Agreement on the planned duration of the interview • Information on the use of the data • Anonymity preserved and confidentiality of statement • Declaration of the consent of the data from this interview being used for research purposes (destroyed afterward) • Do you have any questions before we start? Background of interviewee • Name age, nationality, level of education, and occupation • How are you related or connected to skiing or sport in general? • Have you volunteered at the Lahti Ski Games before and how many times? • Do you have some other volunteering experience? • What position did you have at the 2021 Lahti Ski Games? • Family tradition for volunteering? Motivation • What were the reasons that made you decide to volunteer this year at the Lahti Ski Games? • What kind of expectations did you have when you decided to apply for the volunteering position? • What kind of aims or goals did you have when you decided to apply for the volunteering position? • Reason for volunteering (related to you or the event)? Motivation affected by • How did the Covid-19 pandemic affect your decision to volunteer at the Covid-19 Lahti Ski Games this year? • In which way do you believe the organization has communicated the Covid-19 risk and restriction protocols correctly or incorrectly? • How did the existence of those protocols affect your motivation to volunteer? • In what ways do you believe the restrictions were handled correctly or incorrectly? • Did you have to get tested for Covid-19? If not, why not? Satisfaction from previous • In what way has the behavior of managers from previous years affected years affecting motivation your view about volunteering at this event or decision about volunteering? and Covid-19 affecting • Has your satisfaction as a volunteer from previous years affected your satisfaction motivation to volunteer this year? • In what way are you satisfied or dissatisfied with your experience overall at the 2021 Lahti Ski Games? • How has Covid-19 affected your satisfaction regarding the overall experience? Final questions • How does volunteering make you feel? What does volunteering mean to you? • Would you feel different if did not volunteer? Why? Closing • Can I contact you again in case there is something that needs clarification or if there is another specific issue that would need to be covered? • Remind the ethics of research and Thank you!