Football volunteering and subjective well-being: A multi-country study of different voluntary roles and well-being measures

Research question Drawing on different theoretical views of subjective well-being (SWB), this study examines the associations between football volunteering in general, volunteering in specific roles, and different SWB measures. It also assigns monetary values to volunteering using the well-being valuation approach. Research methods The analysis uses survey data of adult football club members and volunteers in seven European countries (n = 19,939). Volunteering is measured by the number of monthly volunteering hours in total and in administrative, sport-related, and operational roles. SWB is captured by life satisfaction, happiness, and a multi-item scale. Linear and instrumental variable (IV) regression models are estimated. Results and findings The number of volunteering hours has no significant association in the linear models, but a significant positive association with all three SWB measures in the IV estimations. Differences in volunteering hours between during and before the pandemic are positively associated with differences in SWB. Administrative and sport-related hours are negatively associated with some SWB measures in the linear models, while the IV models reveal a positive association for sport-related roles. Operational roles tend to be positively related to SWB independent of estimator and SWB measure. The monetary values of the IV estimations are higher than those of the linear models. The values from the happiness models exceed those of the life satisfaction models. One hour of volunteering in an operational role is valued higher than one hour in a sport-related role. Implications For scholars, it is more important to distinguish between different voluntary roles than between different SWB measures. For practitioners, the results imply that support should be targeted particularly at volunteers in administrative and sport-related roles.