Can festivals bring social change in an ECoC city? Emotional intelligence and willingness to volunteer among university students

Abstract

Veszprém in Hungary was awarded the title of the European Capital of Culture (ECoC) in the year of 2023. The project aims to involve a wide range of audience, with special attention to younger people including university students, however, this depends on their willingness to be involved both as participants and volunteers. The current study aims to assess the willingness of university students to participate as volunteers in the ECoC programme Furthermore it explaines the factors that can influence students' willingness to volunteer, including their cultural consumption patterns, their cultural- and emotional intelligence levels. A survey on the willingness to volunteer in the ECoC project was conducted among Hungarian and international students of the University of Pannonia in 2018 to determine the factors influencing their intentions to participate in the programme. This was followed by a second survey in 2020, focusing on the influence of emotional and cultural intelligence levels of students on their willingness to volunteer in events. The results reveal that the most popular events for both participation and volunteering are pop- and rock concerts, sport and travel programmes, and motivations are stronger when programmes bring mutual benefits to organisers and volunteers. There is a significant positive relationship between cultural intelligence levels as well as emotional intelligence levels of university students and their participation in community leisure activities and cultural events. However, emotional intelligence is not significantly related to willingness to volunteer.