How do Perceived Benefits and Costs Predict Volunteers’ Satisfaction?

The impact of volunteer tourism on participants has gained interest in tourism research with popular topics of study such as motivation, expectations, and values. However, only a few studies have examined outcomes of the experience such as satisfaction and most works were purely descriptive. The purpose of this research is to find out more about the drivers of satisfaction focusing on experienced benefits and costs with the volunteer experience. The paper reports a quantitative online survey distributed to volunteers ( n = 290) via volunteer organizations operating on all continents. Regression analyses show that experienced benefits relating to the self and the career are positively and costs are negatively correlated with satisfaction.