How do sport clubs recruit volunteers? Analyzing and developing a typology of decision-making processes on recruiting volunteers in sport clubs

•Decisions were often a response to acute recruiting problems rather than a pursuit of strategic goals.•Only a few or individual actors played an active role in decision-making processes.•Decision-making processes were frequently shifted into informal decision-making situations.•Solutions to specific problems, clubs are oriented toward (proven) routines, or “successful” solutions from other clubs.•Sport clubs that can be characterized by more systematic procedure are more effective in solving personnel problems.Effective strategies for recruiting volunteers who are prepared to make a long-term commitment to formal positions are essential for the survival of voluntary sport clubs. This article examines the decision-making processes in relation to these efforts. Under the assumption of bounded rationality, the garbage can model is used to grasp these decision-making processes theoretically and access them empirically. Based on case study framework an in-depth analysis of recruitment practices was conducted in nine selected sport clubs. Results showed that the decision-making processes are generally characterized by a reactive approach in which dominant actors try to handle personnel problems of recruitment in the administration and sport domains through routine formal committee work and informal networks. In addition, it proved possible to develop a typology that delivers an overview of different decision-making practices in terms of the specific interplay of the relevant components of process control (top-down vs. bottom-up) and problem processing (situational vs. systematic).