Modelling the decision to volunteer in organised sports

•The first aim was to identify determinants of volunteering.•The second aim was to identify drivers of and time committed to the volunteering.•Drivers of volunteering were male gender and number of engagements.•Key determinants for time were club membership and number of voluntary engagements.

Using a heterodox economic approach, the purpose of this paper is twofold: to analyse the determinants of (1) volunteering in organised sports, and (2) time committed to that volunteering. By means of regression analysis of secondary data from a nation-wide volunteer survey with two waves (2004: n = 15,000; 2009: n = 20,005), it was established that human capital, female gender and the motive of shaping society had a negative influence on the decision to volunteer while the number of engagements in other volunteering had a positive effect. Time committed to volunteering was determined by male gender, having children, meeting people, club membership, shaping society and number of voluntary engagements. The volunteer workforce is thus very heterogeneous; however, sport club managers should recruit volunteers in particular amongst existing members.