Introduction
This chapter is about volunteersâ value creation in events. Values created through co-creation among volunteer tourists that travel to events and work alongside local volunteers and others involved in the events. The chapter examines value creation for the volunteers themselves, both as a tourist volunteer or a local volunteer, and for the event.
Tourism is changing from being product-oriented to value-oriented, that is, tourists travel to pursue special interests and through this they seek to satisfy both ultimate and immediate goals. Furthermore, the boundaries between work and pleasure are becoming increasingly blurred, with work as play and play as work (Richards, 2011). This is particularly noticeable in special interest tourism activities such as volunteering to actively engage (work) at events. Events are co-created consumption spaces where the creation of value depends on those who participate. Typically in events, locals and visitors who participate create value through the consumption of the same services and products, blurring defined roles (JĂŠger and Olsen, 2016). Furthermore, the value created during an event can extend beyond the event itself when based on dimensions focusing on individual values and not only on salient desires and wants. This is particularly important from a sustainable and long-term perspective. For instance, HaanpÀÀ et al. (2016, p. 46) point out that these events âclearly create meaning-based value for the people and places, but the monetary value created is often marginalâ. Different dimensions of local value creation linked to events are the development of tourism products by lifestyle entrepreneurs, e.g. mushers and volunteers create tourism for those places (Viken and JĂŠger, 2012). Furthermore, events contribute to develop place stories, as event activities and happenings are being communicated via television during the event and online (website, social media, Twitter, Instagram) throughout the year (JĂŠger and Kvidal-RĂžvik, 2015). This type of value enhances the visibility and attractiveness of the events, which is important because these events totally depend on a volunteer workforce. The events are brought to life by the volunteers, who often travel long distances to participate, driven by a desire to learn, expand their networks and have fun (WollebĂŠk et al., 2014, p. 30). The different desires illustrate different dimensions of value co-creation that, in events, might contribute to develop, improve and sustain the event in different/multiple ways while creating benefits for the volunteers, event participants and local society. Further, the value created depends on the quality or nature of the interaction between participants, which facilitates what Richards (2014) calls an âactive exchangeâ. A study on interaction in events conducted by Nordvall et al. (2014, p. 137) found that social interactions between event visitors were an important part of the event experience, and they identified three different types of interactions: known-group socialization, external socialization and audience socialization. While the literature discusses the values motivating volunteers to participate (WollebĂŠk et al., 2014), it tells us less about what happens during the event. What exactly is co-created during the life of an event? What does this mean for the volunteers and the event? To answer these questions, this chapter takes a social constructivist approach to value creation to investigate what values volunteer locals and tourists, amateurs and semi-professionals create through working in events.
The research is based on the two dogsledding races, the Finnmark Race (FinnmarkslĂžpet), arranged in Finnmark, Norway, and Iditarod, organized in Alaska, United States, with national and international participants. Both races are staged in rural areas, built from the bottom up on local premises and created by individuals with a genuine interest in both the area and dogsledding. The core activity of these sporting events is dogsledding, but at the same time it is a travel through nature, with many culture events arranged during the race period. The volunteers who participate have different nationalities, knowledge and skills. For example they can be: journalists, photographers, veterinarians, snowmobile drivers and pilots coming from different countries, and also other places inside the host countries (the United States and Norway). The nationalities differ every year, and those discussed in this chapter are representative of this study.
Thus, to understand the importance of co-creation in an event, this study investigates, analyses and discusses volunteersâ value (co-)creation during their participation in events and identifies values that are important both for the volunteers and the events. The study recognizes the volunteer as guided by individual values shaping their experiences and, thus, value creation. Furthermore, it views the event as having the potential to access, shape and add benefit to and from volunteersâ value creation. This chapter proceeds with a literature review followed by case descriptions of the events investigated in this study and a description of the methods used. The next sections of the chapter are divided into analysing and discussing the findings followed by the conclusion that offers advice for future research.
Value co-creation, events and volunteering
The concept of value co-creation posits that the creation of value emerges through processes of resource sharing that ultimately enhance the potential for participants to create value (Lusch and Vargo, 2014; Mathisen, 2012; Prebensen et al., 2014). The fuzziness of the value concept makes it difficult to define, but recent literature suggests that value emerges through use and entails enhanced imagined, perceived and/or evaluated feelings of being better off and/or enhanced wellbeing (Grönroos and Voima, 2013; Lusch and Vargo, 2014; Pera and Viglia, 2015). While value creation in tourism has focused on touristsâ expression of meaning linked to participation in activities (as exciting or enjoyable), the service management literature goes beyond a focus on experiential value and includes value in use (Heinonen et al., 2013). Thus values are beliefs that shape and guide individualsâ choices to create meaning (Rokeach, 1973; Sagiv and Schwartz, 2000; Schwartz, 2013). This means that while value can be subjectively defined in terms of what is, for example, enjoyable, values are multidimensional and socially/culturally shared universal priorities that can change through experiences, knowledge and skills (Schwartz and Bilsky, 1990).
Therefore, to have a value approach means to share and integrate knowledge and skills in ways that benefits both the volunteers and the event (Grönroos and Voima, 2013; Lusch and Vargo, 2014). While this view recognizes the volunteer as determining their own value creation, it also views the event as having the potential to access and shape volunteersâ knowledge and skills while acknowledging the power the volunteers have to influence the eventsâ value-creation processes. A volunteer participating in an event is driven by expectations of being better off based on what is considered to be valuable for the individual (Lusch and Vargo, 2014). What this entails is linked to feelings of wellbeing, e.g. social, economic and cultural wellbeing, and thus involves participating in activities they consider bring about benefits that increase this potential (Lusch and Vargo, 2014; Prebensen, 2012; Prebensen et al., 2014). From the vantage point of co-creation, viewing volunteers as co-creative resources entails analysing interactions to create awareness of all processes through which value can be co-created and shared. These processes can originate between volunteers and event management, but can implicate and affect knowledge creation and development beyond these interactions (Sfandla and Björk, 2013). From this perspective, volunteers and the event together hold a potential for event development that can be realized through a focus on knowledge and learning (Chandler and Vargo, 2011; Greer et al., 2016).
During an event, volunteers interact directly with their environment, including other volunteers, event employees, managers and locals. These processes are constantly evolving, where volunteersâ and eventsâ direct and indirect interactions follow non-linear patterns. This means that while volunteersâ value co-creation is crucial for events, both volunteers and the event are part of a system where the creation of value at individual levels can expand beyond this level, thus holding the potential for increased value creation beyond the event (Binkhorst and Den Dekker, 2009; Lusch and Vargo, 2014). This highlights the importance for events to create and implement strategies for co-creation that facilitate interactions between and across volunteers, event employees and management team(s).
Events and festivals represent important social and cultural arenas, replacing the historic role of churches, village feasts and gatherings. According to Jepson and Clarke (2016, p. 3): âFestivals and events are the lifeblood of society, they are inseparable and crucial to enhance and maintain community well-being or quality of life.â Put another way, events create unique settings where individuals from different cultures and social classes can meet, interact and sometimes find new friends. The number of events and festivals has increased (de Brito and Terzieva, 2016), indicating their social importance. Furthermore, the eventâs role in a community as a temporary place in a physical place means that events are venues for value co-creation â that is, both the tourists and the local people can use events as value-creating areas (HaanpÀÀ et al., 2016).
Co-creation takes place during the various interactions between local volunteers, the volunteer tourists and the members of the event team. The type of value co-created during these interactions depends on the participantsâ willingness to share, for example, knowledge and interaction dynamics. When the volunteers get time to reflect on what they have shared and on what has happened during the life of the event, they know whether their efforts have resulted in any personal or social changes, e.g. have they met old âvolunteer friendsâ, made new friends or gained new skills? Therefore, the value (co-)created can also result in an increased motivation to maybe volunteer next time. ZĂĄtori (2016, p. 14) describes a three-step co-creation process in her study on guided tours where a service provider aims to: â(1) provoke attention, (2) engage and involve, and (3) make consumers discoverâ. ZĂĄtoriâs study emphasizes the consumerâs perspective, which means that:
co-creation can be realized only if the intention of the provider and the value co-creation steps meet an optimal response from consumer side. In case the consumer has no attention, interest or willingness to get involved and participate, the co-creation will not take place.
Similarly, volunteer tourists in events are offered work tasks during the event, but unlike ordinary tourists they have to facilitate the experiences themselves. Moreover, a critical part of the co-creation takes place between the volunteers, thus not facilitated by the event management. For example, value is co-created when knowledge is shared and developed during interactions between, for example, members in a veterinarian team in the Finnmark Race or Iditarod. The team members then use what they learnt during the races when they treat dogs in their own clinics, thus the value co-created during the events extends beyond the event. Many of the local and international volunteers also start to plan the next yearâs event during this phase. Understanding events holistically facilitates insights into eventsâ extended value creation â that is, the gaining of knowledge of the value created also after the event is arranged. Moreover, this gives a frame for understanding the parallel lifecycle/parallel value creation processes for the people involved in the events, such as the volunteer touristsâ value creation studied in this chapter. The core of event value creation depends on direct and indirect interactions, which can result in the creation of relationships that give value throughout the year, outside the time period of the actual event.
Many events are totally reliant on the involvement of volunteers (Monga, 2006). This is also true for the Finnmark Race and Iditarod cases investigated here. The term âvolunteerâ is derived from the word meaning âto willingly giveâ (Cnaan et al., 1996, p. 366), and one definition of volunteering is âany activity in which time is given freely to benefit another person, group, or organizationâ (Wilson, 2000, p. 215). The nature of volunteering can also be understood in terms of what Cater (2006) describes in connection to adventure tourism and leisure. He underpins that it is important that the activities are freely chosen so as to achieve what Csikszentimihalyi (1975, p. 36) describes as flow and defines as a feeling of âcomplete involvement of the actor with his activityâ. To achieve flow is attractive, because it gives a feeling of total immersion. This kind of involvement might be compared with the volunteers...
