Understanding the organization of volunteers at visitor attractions

This thesis investigates how volunteers are organized at visitor attractions. It focuses on museums and art museums; non-profit institutions that manage large volunteer programs. The study addresses five important issues : 1/ in what context do museums and art museums operate; 2/ why people are motivated to volunteer for these institutions; 3/ what is the extent to which the institution interacts with its external environment and how this affects organizing routines of volunteers; 4/ what is the relationship between volunteer motivation, interest dissatisfaction and value commitments; and 5/ how this understanding can result in the better management of volunteers. Two attractions in New South Wales and one in the Australian Capital Territory were investigated. The author collected data on field activities of volunteer managers and coordinators, and administered a questionnaire to the total population of volunteers in these three attractions. The thesis contributes to a more holistic understanding of volunteers that offers a critical theoretical extension to tourism, institutional and neo-institutional literature