Volunteers in the experience economy: Engagement, motivation, rewards and management

The use of volunteers is becoming more visible and important in the experience economy also in the light of the financial crisis. From a management perspective within both public and private organizations the use of volunteers is an important element partly because they strengthen the brand and they help in the product development but also because they are seen as a cheap resource. From an employee perspective you often hear that it creates a sense of fear for cuts or loss of professionalism, but can also be seen as a helpful resource and dynamic element in the organization. In the Experience economy volunteers create a new set of dimensions, because they shift between being part of the experience producer and being one of the experience consumers. Volunteers are becoming increasingly more important in the experience economy as they contribute to the overall experience for users or customers and in the creation of communities related to the organizations. Within academics a holistic and a cross theory approach to the use of volunteers has largely been neglected. In industry or more precisely in cultural projects there is a lot of learning-by-doing experience, but it is often not written down, gathered and discussed. The Questions addressed is how to enlist, motivate and reward volunteers a long the way and how to manage and guide volunteers. Furthermore what kind of special relationship does the volunteer have in the making of the experience design and in the experience of that design. This paper combines theories from psychology about motivational factors, game theories about rewards, business model theory about crowdsourcing and crowdfunding, user and customer experience theory with 25 interviews with experienced industry experts limited to the cultural sector and with relation to experience economy. As well as workshops with representatives from academics and industry focusing on addressing issues when organisations use volunteers. Based on the findings, I promote an initial holistic framework that can direct both further research and can be used within a broad range of industries.