The purpose of this study was to modify the Volunteer Functions Inventory (VFI) to be specifically applicable to assess volunteer motivation in youth sport settings. Based on a comprehensive review of literature, the VFI items were first modified to reflect the context of youth sports. Testing of measurement properties was accomplished through two studies. In Study One, the modified VFI was administered to volunteers (N = 515) of a nationwide youth soccer organization. Data were randomly split into two-halves: one for exploratory factor analysis (EFA) with principal-axis extraction and oblique rotation, and the other for confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) with maximum likelihood estimation. In the EFA, six factors emerged which were consistent with the dimensions of the VFI; however, 12 items were eliminated due to double loading or misspecification, resulting in 18 items being retained. The CFA revealed that the data fit the 6-factor model well. In Study Two, the resolved scale was re-validated through a sample of 262 volunteers of local youth sport leagues. Overall, findings of these two studies suggest that the modified VFI for youth sports is a valid and reliable scale. This scale may be adopted to study various volunteer motivation issues associated with youth sport organizations and events.
Volunteers are a crucial component of the work force needed to delivering high quality youth sport programs (Hedstrom and Gould, 2004, Seefeldt and Ewing, 1997 and Wiersma and Sherman, 2005). Numerous researchers have attempted to identify sociodemographic characteristics and psychological states of youth sport volunteers to formulate practices to effectively recruit and retain qualified volunteers for youth sport programs (e.g., Cuskelly, 2004, Cuskelly and Boag, 2001, Farrell et al., 1998 and Taylor et al., 2006). Of particular importance, volunteer motivation has been identified as a key concept that affects individuals to accept and remain in volunteer positions (Caldwell and Andereck, 1994, Coleman, 2002, Farrell et al., 1998, Johnston et al., 2000, MacLean and Hamm, 2007, Shibli et al., 1999, Stergios and Carruthers, 2002/3, Strigas and Jackson, 2003 and Williams et al., 1995). When studying the motivation of sport volunteers, various measurement scales have been adopted (Clary et al., 1998, Farmer and Fedor, 2001, Knoke and Prensky, 1984 and Miller, 1985); however, most of these instruments were adopted directly from general organizational settings and were applied to sport volunteer contexts without carefully looking into their measurement properties in terms of validity, reliability, and applicability.
Due to the lack of a scale that specifically addresses the unique setting of youth sport programs, various general scales have been continuously adopted, modified, and even formulated by researchers to conduct related studies. It is unknown the extent to which research findings derived from these general studies are applicable to volunteers working in youth sport programs. Therefore, formulating a valid and reliable scale that has strong theoretical foundations and practical relevance appears necessary. When a sound instrument is available, it can be utilized by researchers and practitioners to accurately identify motivational factors of volunteers in different youth sport settings, and formulate effective management strategies to recruit, train, and retain volunteers.
