Commitment, resistance and indifference toward diversity amongst community cricket volunteers

Abstract

Individual commitment to diversity and its link to organizational commitment and change amongst community sport volunteers, is a key debate in the scholarship of sport (Cunningham 2008 Cunningham, G. 2008. “Commitment to Diversity and Its Influence on Athletic Department Outcomes.” Journal of Intercollegiate Sport 1 (2): 176–201. doi:10.1123/jis.1.2.176. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar] ; Spaaij 2011 Spaaij, R. 2011. Sport and Social Mobility: Crossing Boundaries. New York: Routledge. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar] ; Spaaij et al. 2013 Spaaij, R. , Farquharson, K. Magee, J. Jeanes, R. Lusher, and D. Gorman. 2013. “A Fair Game for All? How Community Sports Clubs in Australia Deal with Diversity.” Journal of Sport and Social Issues 38 (4): 1–20. [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar] ; Spaaij, Magee, and Jeanes 2014 Spaaij, Ramon , J. Magee, and R. Jeanes. 2014. Sport and Social Exclusion in Global Society. Oxon: Routledge. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar] ; Melton and Cunningham 2014 Melton, E. N. , and G. Cunningham. 2014. “Who Are the Champions? Using a Multilevel Model to Examine Perceptions of Employee Support for LGBT Inclusion in Sport Organizations.” Journal of Sport Management 28 (2): 189–206. doi:10.1123/jsm.2012-0086. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar] ; Jeanes et al. 2018 Jeanes, R. , R. Spaaij, J. Magee, K. Farquharson, S. Gorman, D. Lusher, and R. Storr. 2018. “Diversity Work in Community Sport Organizations: Commitment, Resistance and Institutional Change.” International Review for the Sociology of Sport 53 (3): 278–295. doi:10.1177/1012690216654296. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar] ). Yet details about driving factors and processes which influence volunteer commitment to diversity are relatively unknown (Storr et al. 2020 Storr, R. , R. Jeanes, R. Spaaij, and K. Farquharson. 2020. “That’s Where the Dollars Are: Understanding Why Community Sports Volunteers Engage with Intellectual Disability as a Form of Diversity.” Managing Sport and Leisure. Online First 1–14. 10.1080/23750472.2020.1730226. [Taylor & Francis Online] , [Google Scholar] ). This article critically examines the attitudinal commitment of volunteers engaging with participants who have intellectual disabilities. Extending the work of Herscovitch and Meyer ( 2002 Herscovitch, L. , and J. Meyer. 2002. “Commitment to Organizational Change: Extension of a Three-Component Model.” The Journal of Applied Psychology 87 (3): 474–487. doi:10.1037/0021-9010.87.3.474. [Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar] ), the author analyses the attitudinal commitment of 21 volunteers in a community cricket club in Victoria, Australia. Approximately half of the sample showed a mind-set committed to diversity, with the remainder holding indifferent or resistant attitudes. The author concludes that by identifying resistant or indifferent attitudes, clubs can improve inclusion practices amongst volunteers. By changing organizational structures, the link between individual volunteer and whole of organization commitment to diversity can be strengthened, guaranteeing better participation outcomes for people with intellectual disabilities.