Search Results

You are looking at 1 - 10 of 11 items for :

  • Author: Stacy Warner x
  • Journal of Sport Management x
  • Refine by Access: All Content x
Clear All Modify Search
Restricted access

Understanding Sense of Community From the Athlete’s Perspective

Stacy Warner and Marlene A. Dixon

Sport programs are often charged with creating a sense of community (SOC), and it is thought that doing so will benefit participants on and off the field of play. Since SOC is specific to the setting (Hill, 1996) and most research has been conducted outside of sport, the literature has not yet fully demonstrated how and when SOC is created within a sport context. Utilizing a grounded theory and phenomenological approach, this study investigated the mechanisms for creating SOC within a sport setting. Twenty former US college athletes were interviewed regarding their sport experiences. The results revealed that Administrative Consideration, Leadership Opportunities, Equity in Administrative Decisions, Competition, and Social Spaces were the most salient factors that fostered SOC. The results contribute to community building theory, and provide practical solutions for enhancing the participant experience.

Restricted access

Examining Sense of Community in Sport: Developing the Multidimensional ‘SCS’ Scale

Stacy Warner, Shannon Kerwin, and Matthew Walker

As scholars conduct more research on the social benefits of community sport, the need for an instrument to measure sense of community is increasingly necessary. Utilizing previous grounded theory research specific to sport and community building, the purpose of this study was to test previous sport and sense of community theory through the creation and validation of a measurement scale to gauge sense of community. The authors tested a 21-item tool comprised of 6-subscales (i.e., Administrative Consideration, Common Interest, Competition, Equity in Administrative Decisions, Leadership, and Social Spaces) among samples of young sport participants using the three-phase method of item generation, confirmatory analyses, and concurrent validation. The resulting analyses yielded a valid and reliable instrument to measure sense of community in sport. This research suggests refinement to previous sport and sense of community theory and provides needed utility for this theory that has been grounded in the sport experience.

Restricted access

Employee Satisfaction in Sport: Development of a Multi-Dimensional Model in Coaching

Marlene A. Dixon and Stacy Warner

Despite the overwhelming emphasis on job satisfaction in sport management research, scholars continue to advocate for the distinctiveness and importance of evaluating both job satisfaction and dissatisfaction. The purpose of this investigation is to develop a model of job satisfaction and dissatisfaction for intercollegiate coaches. Fifteen head coaches participated in semistructured interviews. Results revealed a sport industry specific three-factor model. Desirable job factors (Player-Coach Relationships, Recognition, and Social Status) were related only to satisfaction. Industry Standard Factors (Sport Policy, Salary, Recruiting, Supervision, and Life Balance) were related only to dissatisfaction. Performance Dependent Factors (Flexibility and Control, Program Building, and Relationships with Colleagues) were related to satisfaction and dissatisfaction. The results support the distinctiveness of job satisfaction and dissatisfaction as constructs, and also demonstrate a continued need for examining job attitudes within context. As sport managers understand the particular expectations of their employees and their industry they can better diagnose and solve employee issues.

Restricted access

Refereeing as a Postathletic Career Option

Vanessa Bright, Stacy Warner, and Claire Zvosec

Athletes may be especially primed to become referees; yet, we do not know what former athletes think about this career choice. To address the worldwide referee shortage, it is important to better understand athletes’ perceptions of refereeing. From a Career Contingency Model framework, it is evident athletes’ perception would influence their decision to consider refereeing. This study’s aim was to examine athletes’ perceptions of the refereeing environment (RQ1) and identify referee recruitment barriers (RQ2). Utilizing a descriptive phenomenological approach, 23 current and former athletes took part in semistructured interviews based on their lived experience as an athlete. The participants identified the officiating environment as a high-stress environment with financial instability, while time and lack of knowledge and support were identified as recruitment barriers. The results contributed to the burgeoning line of research attempting to address the global referee shortage and provide both theoretical and practical implications for sport managers.

Restricted access

Officiating Attrition: The Experiences of Former Referees Via a Sport Development Lens

Stacy Warner, Jacob K. Tingle, and Pamm Kellett

Referees are key sport personnel who have important responsibilities both on- and off- the field. Organized competition would not survive without referees, yet little is known about what cause referees to discontinue in the role. This research examines the experiences of former referees so that managers may better understand strategies that might encourage more referees to be retained. Fifteen previous basketball referees were interviewed about their refereeing experience. Ten themes emerged that were related to the sport development stages of referee recruitment, referee retention, and referee advancement. The results indicate that issues experienced during the retention phase (Problematic Social Interaction, Training/Mentoring, and Lack of Referee Community) and then at the advancing stage (Lack of Administrator Consideration, Administrator Decision Making, and Sport Policies) are linked to eventual departure from the role. Interestingly, off-court factors were reported as more influential in the decision to leave. Managerial strategies and implications are discussed.

Restricted access

More Than Motivation: Reconsidering Volunteer Management Tools

Stacy Warner, Brianna L. Newland, and B. Christine Green

Volunteers provide an essential human resource to sport organizations. Yet measures of motivation and satisfaction have had limited impact on an organization’s ability to improve their volunteer systems. This study applied the Kano Method to categorize volunteers’ perceptions of their experience into four dimensions of satisfaction: Attractive (or Satisfiers), Must-Be’s (or Dissatisfiers), One-Dimensional, and Indifferent. Four types of volunteers (44 sport continuous, 47 sport episodic, 49 nonsport continuous, 176 nonsport episodic) completed a web questionnaire including 26-paired features of their experience, 26 motives, and five key outcome measures. Although motives were deemed important, alone they were poor predictors of key outcomes and were unrelated to satisfaction. Volunteers in the four contexts classified the 26 features in different ways. No Must-Be’s (dissatisfiers) were identified by any group. Although most features were identified as Attractive, the distribution of One-Dimensional and Indifferent features varied by context. One-dimensional items were only identified among features categorized as Supportive Culture, Clear Direction, and Contribution. These features should be prioritized as managers improve volunteer management systems. The Kano Method extends our understanding of the volunteer experience by providing researchers with a tool to distinguish the way volunteers conceptualize their experience. From a practical standpoint, it provides volunteer managers with an additional tool in their efforts to recruit and retain volunteers by prioritizing features that will most immediately impact volunteers.

Restricted access

Team Dynamics: A Social Network Perspective

Stacy Warner, Matthew T. Bowers, and Marlene A. Dixon

Research has consistently revealed that team cohesion is positively related to team performance under certain conditions. In response to the need for understanding this relationship more fully, and because of the promising new insights that can be garnered with the use of social network analysis (SNA), this study employs SNA as a tool to explore a case study of the structural cohesiveness of two women’s collegiate basketball teams. Members of the two teams completed online roster-based surveys related to different types of structural cohesion levels at four points during the season. This case study revealed that the higher performing team showed improved structural cohesion in the efficacy network over the four phases, and highlighted the movement of key players in the different networks (friendship, trust, advice, and efficacy) over time. These patterns demonstrate the potential for SNA to function as a diagnostic tool for organizations and researchers to generate testable hypotheses even in instances where statistical inference may be precluded by sampling constraints. In short, SNA was found to be a valuable new tool for exploring, depicting, and informing explanations about the individual relationships that impact team dynamics.

Restricted access

Sport Management Digest

Melanie Sartore-Baldwin, Jacqueline McDowell, Stephen Shapiro, Matthew Walker, and Stacy Warner

Edited by Jeremy S. Jordan

Restricted access

The Strength of Community: The Role of Social Support Networks in Sport Officials’ Retention

Jacob K. Tingle, Brittany L. Jacobs, Matthew Katz, and Stacy Warner

Previous researchers have indicated that a sense of community and social support are vital to referee retention; however, little is known about the connection between specific characteristics of sports officials’ networks and retention. To better understand the sports officiating shortage, researchers explored the social support networks of 116 referees utilizing egocentric network analysis. The authors suggest that retention of sports officials depends on the interpersonal ties and network structures within which the referees are embedded. Specifically, resulting hierarchical models confirmed that retention relationships among officials are a multilevel phenomenon, and that outside communication and community were vital network characteristics that fostered retention relationships. Network size, tenure, and the officiating level also were significant when considering an official’s network and its impact on retention. Areas for future research and suggestions for referee managers are presented.

Restricted access

Sport Management Digest

Tommy Aicher, Jess Dixon, Jacqueline McDowell, Emily Sparvero, Matt Walker, and Stacy Warner

Edited by Pamm Phillips