Before the Handshake: Wise Practices for the Support of Unpaid Officials in Athletics in Alberta
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Issue Date
2024
Editor
Authors
Evans, Sharon
License
Subject
School of leadership studies
Abstract
The sport of track and field involves many unpaid volunteers, called officials, who judge and assess athletic performance. In Alberta, Canada, not enough new volunteers are signing up to replace retiring officials. This recruitment gap was the catalyst to explore how Athletics Alberta, the provincial governing body for track and field, might better support the recruitment and retention of sanctioned officials at all levels in Alberta. This research followed a framework of action research engagement. The researcher used focus groups, with an appreciative stance, to engage officials of varying levels in collaborative dialogue to share their experiences of officiating. Reflexive thematic analysis distilled the 88 unique findings into three key themes connected to (a) relationship, (b) motivation, and (c) knowledge. The findings also supported self-determination theory (SDT), as an effective way to understand the motivation of officials and their desire to continue. SDT asserted the importance of autonomy as it relates to human motivation. Further analysis of findings led to a framework of job embeddedness (JE) to reveal why officials devoted their time to officiating long term. In the literature, JE was described as a web or net that connected an employee to their work within an organization. The resulting recommendations provide important considerations for developing long-term volunteer programming.
Description
2024