Alignment Between Perceived and Actual Motivation to Volunteer

Running head: Volunteer Motivations at Roskilde Festival Alignment Between Perceived and Actual Motivation to Volunteer: A Case Study of Roskilde Festival Ísold Hákonardóttir - 63627 Nanna S. Jorgensen - 63615 Ronja D. Petersen - 63601 Supervisor: Oda B. Hustad Roskilde University Volunteer Motivations at Roskilde Festival 1 Table of Contents 1. Introduction 5 1.1. Problem Area 6 1.2. Problem Formulation 7 1.3. Research Question: 8 1.3.1. Sub Questions 8 2. Project Design 8 3. Methodology 9 3.1. Philosophy of Science 9 3.2. Research Design - Single Case Study 12 3.2.1. The Volunteering Survey 12 3.2.2. Interviews 16 3.3. Analysis Strategy 19 4. Theoretical Framework 20 4.2. Literature Review 21 4.2.1. General Surveys on Volunteer Motivation 21 4.2.2. Surveys on Volunteer Motivations at Special Events 22 4.2.3.Monga’s Survey on Volunteer Motivations at Special Events 23 4.3. Theory 24 4.3.1. Rational Choice Theory 24 4.3.1. Monga’s Motivational Survey Framework 27 4.3. Delimitations 30 5. Case Description 32 6. Analysis 35 6.1. Interview analysis 35 6.2. Survey Analysis 44 7. Discussion 55 8. Conclusion 72 8.1. Points for Further Research 74 9. Bibliography 74 Volunteer Motivations at Roskilde Festival 2 Tables and Figures Figure 1: The Critical Realist iceberg metaphor. 10 Figure 2: Organizational structure of the Roskilde Festival Group. 32 Figure 3: Bar chart illustrating the distribution of the motivational dimensions. 44 Figure 4: Bar chart illustrating affiliatory motivations by yearly income. 50 Figure 5: Bar chart illustrating free participation component by age. 52 Figure 6: Bar chart illustrating free participation component by student status. 52 Table 1: Perceived volunteer motivations. 39 Table 2: Actual motivations. 44 Table 3: Frequency table of key features of respondents. 45 Table 4: Average of motivations by volunteers and non-volunteers. 47 Table 5: Frequency table of summary of demographics. 48 Volunteer Motivations at Roskilde Festival 3 Abstract Roskilde Festival is reliant on the contribution of volunteer workers, and the recruitment of volunteers is therefore important for the festival’s success. Understanding volunteer motivations, and understanding their own perception of volunteer motivations, can help recruiters become more knowledgeable on how their approach of the volunteers affect the success of their recruitment. The aim of this research is therefore to explain and understand the alignment between volunteer motivations and the perception of these by volunteer recruiters at Roskilde Festival. Volunteer motivations are measured through Monga’s (2006) motivational framework showcasing five dimensions involved with the motivation to volunteer. The ranking of these motivations for the volunteers is found through a survey, and the ranking of the recruiters perceived motivational dimensions is found through interviews. A comparison of the rankings show a clear alignment involved with using volunteering as an instrument to get free participation in Roskilde Festival. It also shows several misalignments, namely that volunteers are more motivated by altruistic reasons than they are perceived to be, and that they are less motivated by solidarity reasons than the recruiters perceive. Keywords: Roskilde Festival, volunteer, motivations, recruitment Volunteer Motivations at Roskilde Festival 4 1. Introduction Festivals increasingly play a larger role in society, as they sustain cultural groups, create pride amongst the locals, and generate income (Crespi Vallbona & Richards, 2007, p. 2). A festival is - defined as “an organized set of special events, such as musical performances” (Cambridge University Press, 2019). Roskilde Festival in Denmark is today the largest music and arts festival in Northern Europe. Since the festival’s first event in 1971, it has grown continuously over the years bringing people from all over the world together through their love for music and culture, as they travel to Roskilde to take part in this weeklong event (Roskilde Festival, n.d.a). In relation to income generated by the festival, it is estimated that in 2009 the money spent by festival goers in the local community of Roskilde was 41,6 million DKK (Rambøll, 2011, p 25). Roskilde Festival is a 100 % non-profit organization, and after each festival, all proceeds are donated to charity (Roskilde Festival, n.d.b) To lift the task of putting on this non-profit festival, the organization is heavily reliant on their volunteer workers, with 99,9 % of their workforce consisting of volunteers. In fact, on the about page of the festival, the first line states, “We are who we are because of the volunteers” (Roskilde Festival, n.d.a)The definition of volunteering used in this project report has been influenced by the work of Wilson (2000) and Heery and Noon (2017). Volunteering is defined as any activity that involves individuals freely giving their time to a charitable cause, another person, or group. The operations are arranged by an employer and executed by volunteers who choose to take part in the charitable cause. At Roskilde Festival volunteers are provided with free admission to the festival and access to the Volunteer Village which has facilities such as free coffee, Wi-Fi, and massages (Roskilde Festival, n.d.c)). At Roskilde Festival, there are a handful of volunteers who join the different projects of the festival year round, and during the week of the festival, this number increases to 30.000 volunteers. Volunteer Motivations at Roskilde Festival 5 1.1. Problem Area In 2012, Roskilde Festival decided to change the minimum work hours required by the volunteers. Before 2012, volunteers put in a minimum of 24 hours, but in 2012 this was raised to 32 hours, with the exception of the volunteers only working during the four musical days, they still remain at 24 hours. Roskilde Festival attributed this increase to the growth of the festival over the precedent years. The festival had experienced that guests started attending the festival earlier each year, not just attending the four days of music, but also the five days of camping prior to the opening of the festival site. In addition to the increase in the length of the festival, the attendance increased as well (Koefoed, 2012). In 2011, 75.000 tickets were sold, and 25.000 volunteers helped the festival take place. In 2012, this increased to 98.000 tickets sold and 32.000 volunteers (Mortensen, 2011). Many of the volunteer organizations who organize different tasks for Roskilde Festival have expressed that they have had a harder time getting volunteers since 2012. According to them, it has been difficult finding volunteers who are willing to work for the required 32 hours, especially from the more mature population. This has created stress for the volunteer organizations, who in some cases have chosen to cut their workforce in half (Dahl, 2018), resulting in poorer service for the festival attendees. In another case, a scout club gave out monetary rewards to other scout clubs if they could provide them with volunteers (Kimer, 2017). The volunteer organizations also express that they have lost some of their experienced volunteers, creating a less stable workforce (Koefoed, 2012). Roskilde Festival argues that an increase in working hours help to boost the morale of the volunteers “A bigger effort results in increased solidarity, funnier community, a performance that lifts and makes a much bigger difference, and results that creates an even bigger pride” (Koefoed, 2012). This shows that volunteer motivations are perceived differently depending on who is observing them. The characteristics of the relationship between the volunteer and the volunteer organization who employs them is different than the relationship between an employer and an employee. From the traditional perspective of human resource management, workers work for an organization with the knowledge that they get paid for their work, and that they may be promoted Volunteer Motivations at Roskilde Festival 6 or fired depending on the quality of their work. This remunerative, or coercive, influencing does not exist to the same degree in the relationship between a volunteer organization and their volunteers. Recruiting the volunteer to follow the organization’s objectives is therefore challenging. Since there is no remuneration for volunteer work, there is an imbalance between the smaller amount of available volunteers relative to the larger amount of volunteers needed. From the perspective of supply and demand, this means that the volunteer organizations will either have to come to terms with a lack of volunteers or try to make volunteering more attractive to attract more supply (Monga, 2006, p. 4). This scenario was exemplified above, where it was described how some volunteer organizations have disclosed that they have offered monetary rewards to other organizations in exchange for volunteer work. There is also an imbalance between the cost for the volunteer if they leave the work midway through their volunteer job in comparison with the cost of that same action for the volunteer organization. Whereas there is no monetary loss for the volunteer, should they quit, the organization loses both the money they spent on training the volunteer and the opportunity cost of having been able to train someone else who could have continued the work (Monga, 2006, p. 4). 1.2. Problem Formulation In 2012, Roskilde Festival still lacked a third of their volunteers with less than a month to the festival’s start (Schouboe, 2012), and in 2017, the festival estimated that they were short of approximately 1.000 volunteers during the festival (Aurby, 2017). Given the growing popularity of Roskilde Festival and the economic, cultural, and social benefits the event brings with it, it is crucial that the volunteers, who make the event possible, are recruited for the event. An important element in this recruitment is for the organization to understand the motivations of their prospect volunteers (Monga, 2006, p.

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