To function smoothly, organized sport relies on support from management, coaches, volunteers, and sport officials. The term “sport officials” includes referees, umpires, and judges, all of whom are trained to uphold integrity and maintain safety in their respective sports (Carson et al., 2020; Hancock et al., 2021). The decisions made by sport officials during games or competitions can cause emotional reactions within the sporting community, which can add to the demands of the role and the associated stress experienced by officials. Since the nature of sport is unpredictable and complex, it can be difficult for new and/or young sport officials to feel confident in their role, potentially leading them to experience high levels of negative emotional symptoms (e.g., stress and anxiety; Carson et al., 2020). Given this challenging environment, it is important to understand sport officials’ motivations to begin and continue in the profession to help increase their recruitment and retention.
The declining number of sport officials is a worldwide problem. In Canada, the number of ice hockey officials dropped from approximately 33,000 in 2011 to 24,000 in 2022 (Hockey Canada, 2011, 2022). A similar trend exists in Canadian soccer, with approximately 21,000 officials in 2016, but only 13,000 in 2021 (Canada Soccer, 2019, 2022). Furthermore, roughly 30% of Canadian hockey sport officials quit each year, and two thirds of Manitoba soccer officials quit within their first year (Deacon, 2001). For Canadian sport officials, the largest dropout rate was officials aged 15–19 years old (Canadian Heritage, 2013). These data suggest that young individuals were successfully recruited—perhaps while active athletes or recently retired—but there were difficulties retaining sport officials as they aged (Baldwin & Vallance, 2016a). This problem is not limited to Canadian sport officials—similar statistics are present in Australia, the Netherlands, and the United States (Athletic Business, 2016; Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2005, 2010; VanYperen, 1998). Overall, annual attrition rates are high among various sports in several countries and retaining officials past their first few years seems to be challenging. Niehoff (2021) describes this as an officiating crisis, with much work needed to be done to rectify the issue.
Self-Determination Theory and Sport Officials’ Motivations
Given the retention statistics, it is important for researchers to explore sport officials’ motivations. Self-determination theory (SDT; Deci & Ryan, 2008) is a helpful tool to understand sport officials’ motivations, behaviors, and psychological well-being by examining three basic and universal needs: autonomy, competence, and relatedness. Autonomy refers to a feeling of self-governed behavior that matches the individual’s interests and values. Competence refers to one’s perceived level of ability within a particular context. Perceived relatedness is defined as meaningful social connections made within a particular setting. Within SDT, motivations can be further categorized by quantity and quality (Vansteenkiste et al., 2009). Autonomous motivations are typically of higher quality than externally controlled motivations, with intrinsic motivation representing the best type, as it is completely self-determined.
Sport officials’ motivations to begin the profession appear to be related to autonomy. Hancock et al. (2015) found that individuals were motivated to begin sport officiating for intrinsic and sport reasons. Intrinsic reasons included proving one’s abilities, professional development, enjoyment, and passion for the sport. Sport reasons included being active in, serving, promoting, and responding to a need in their sport. In both cases, individuals chose to become officials based on their own interests and values, thereby demonstrating autonomy (Symonds & Russell, 2018). More recently, Bright et al. (2022) offered evidence-based recommendations (e.g., move toward zero tolerance for abuse, create communication about the officiating shortage, and use flexible scheduling) to facilitate athletes transitioning to sport officiating careers. Regardless of these suggestions, an athlete who no longer feels passion for the sport due to negative experiences might not have the level of intrinsic and sport motivation (autonomy) needed to pursue a career as an official.
Gray and Wilson (2008) examined perceived relatedness as a key motivator of sport officials’ intentions to continue. Specifically, track-and-field officials felt commitment to the sport and athletes, highlighting the importance of intrinsic and social motivations in retaining officials. Hancock et al. (2015) also found that sport officials were motivated to continue primarily for intrinsic reasons, followed by social reasons. Over time, there is a shift from beginning officiating for sport reasons, to continuing for social reasons. Several other studies examining sport officials have also stressed the importance of perceived relatedness on retention (Baldwin & Vallance, 2016a, 2016b; Livingston & Forbes, 2017; Nordstrom et al., 2016; Tingle et al., 2014; Warner et al., 2013). More specifically, to continue as a sport official, there is a need for relatedness with fellow officials and supervisors (Baldwin & Vallance, 2016a; Gray & Wilson, 2008). This sense of community acts to insulate sport officials from dropout (Kellett & Warner, 2011).
Motivations of sport officials to quit depend on the type of official and sport, but can include lack of respect, support, time, finances (Hancock et al., 2015), recognition, progression to higher levels, and/or the high demands of the role (Livingston & Forbes, 2017). Ultimately, a lack of any of the three basic needs outlined in SDT can be reasons for sport officials to quit their roles. If a sport official loses their intrinsic drive to officiate due to a lack of enjoyment or other factors, autonomy is lost. If a sport official feels as though they are not provided adequate training to feel competent, then that basic need is not being met. Lastly, the need for perceived relatedness is directly impacted by a lack of social support, and a lack thereof could act as a reason for sport officials to quit (Hancock et al., 2015; Nordstrom et al., 2016).
Female Officials
While understanding sport officials’ motivations is imperative for recruiting and retaining more officials, many sports face further limitations due to their significant underrepresentation of female sport officials. Hockey Canada, for example, estimates that fewer than 10% of their sport officials are female (Hockey Canada, 2020). Recruitment and retention efforts aimed specifically at female sport officials could help address the overall shortage of officials, while also having them act as role models to young female athletes (Reid & Dallaire, 2019; Tingle et al., 2014). A small body of research exists that exclusively examines the experiences/motivations of female sport officials and can be categorized into four major themes: (a) perceived ability, (b) lack of respect, (c) persevering through negative experiences, and (d) reasons for dropout.
Perceived Ability
The perceptions female sport officials have of their own competence are influenced by what they are shown during training and the recognition they receive from fellow officials, coaches, or athletes (Reid & Dallaire, 2020). The need to prove oneself as a competent referee was related to the need to prove that gendered stereotypes should not exist, with female officials feeling the need to reject their femininity to focus on aligning with the masculine role of sport officiating (Forbes et al., 2015; Reid & Dallaire, 2020).
Lack of Respect
Having confidence in their abilities is essential for female officials as they endeavor to prove themselves to others in the sporting world. Some male sport officials, managers, and broadcasters discount the ability of female officials, showing a lack of respect toward females in the role (Forbes et al., 2015; Reid & Dallaire, 2019). Some female sport officials perceived that male sport officials did not want them officiating, while others were made to feel as though their gender had a greater influence on their progression than their ability (Tingle et al., 2014, 2021). This lack of respect and recognition seems to worsen when females officiate male sports (Schaeperkoetter, 2017) and creates a need for female officials to prove themselves every time they step into the playing area (Reid & Dallaire, 2019). Female sport officials have also reported experiences of sexism and abusive comments due to gender roles embedded within society that are dictated by perceived differences between males and females (Forbes et al., 2015; Nordstrom et al., 2016; Reid & Dallaire, 2019; Tingle et al., 2014, 2021). The level to which these comments and actions affect female sport officials seems to vary, with some being able to overcome the adverse experiences by focusing on positive feedback (Reid & Dallaire, 2020), while others quit due to the lack of respect (Tingle et al., 2014).
Persevering Through Negative Experiences
Despite negative experiences with gendered stereotypes and hegemonic masculinity, some female sport officials continue in their roles. For those female sport officials, perceived relatedness appeared to be the primary motivator to persevere through their negative experiences (Baldwin & Vallance, 2016b; Nordstrom et al., 2016; Reid & Dallaire, 2020; Tingle et al., 2014). Specifically, female officials referenced the need for a sense of community to help them persevere through sexism (Baldwin & Vallance, 2016b; Livingston & Forbes, 2017; Nordstrom et al., 2016). Female officials especially valued recognition and validation from athletes, coaches, fellow officials (Reid & Dallaire, 2020), and mentors (Nordstrom et al., 2016) to help them feel as though they belonged. Having this strong sense of community might enable female sport officials to better manage the stress associated with the demands of being an official (Nordstrom et al., 2016; Schaeperkoetter, 2017) and negative gendered experiences (Baldwin & Vallance, 2016b; Nordstrom et al., 2016; Tingle et al., 2014, 2021).
Reasons for Dropout
When negative experiences outweigh the positive reasons to continue, dropout is inevitable. To begin addressing the worldwide shortage of officials, more research is needed on former female officials to determine their motivations to quit. Only one study to date examined female sport officials’ dropout from the perspective of former officials, as conducted by Tingle et al. (2014) who studied eight female former basketball officials. Their findings showed that the participants were influenced to quit officiating due to a lack of relatedness, evidenced through a lack of connection to the officiating community, respect, and social equity. The lack of connection felt by female sport officials might be related to the dearth of female officials within the community or the lonely nature of officiating. Asking about motivations to quit before it happens could also be useful to determine the intentions of female sport officials and the effectiveness of retention strategies.
Purpose
The existing research on female sport officials’ motivations has many limitations (e.g., small sample sizes and mostly qualitative research). Using a quantitative design, the purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between female sport officials’ motivations, basic needs, and intentions to remain as officials. In doing so, this study offers insights into why female sport officials might begin, continue, and quit. To achieve these insights, we explored two research questions. First, for female sport officials, do relationships exist between their basic needs, motivations, and intentions to continue? Second, are there variables (related to basic needs and motivations) that predict female sport officials’ intentions to continue? This study was exploratory in nature, so no hypotheses were made to guide the investigation. Through implementing a quantitative method with a larger sample size than past research, we aimed to provide more generalizable results and identify predictors of intentions to quit—both of which are more challenging through qualitative methods, despite their utility for several other reasons (e.g., depth of understanding). This information can be drawn upon to create recruitment and retention strategies geared toward female sport officials, addressing the overall officiating shortage.
Methods
Sampling and Participants
The Research Ethics Board at the senior author’s institution approved all procedures. Purposeful sampling was used to recruit participants who were ≥18 years of age, identified as female, and were active sport officials. Recruitment included emails sent from officiating bodies to officials and the use of social media (Twitter and Facebook). While there were 232 survey participants, the usable sample included 186 female sport officials (i.e., 46 of the surveys were incomplete and/or male). Participants’ mean age was 36.6 years (SD = 14.7), and their mean experience as sport officials was 12.1 years (SD = 9.7). Participants represented 28 sports; the most common being ice hockey (n = 54), baseball/fast-pitch/softball (n = 51), and ringette (winter sport similar to ice hockey; n = 15). Sport officials’ most common competitive level was club/varsity/travel1 (n = 65), followed by provincial/state (n = 63), and national (n = 33). Participants who primarily officiated female athletes comprised 63.4% (n = 118) of the sample.
Measures
Participants completed an anonymous Qualtrics survey assessing their motivations and basic needs as they related to beginning, continuing, and/or quitting officiating. The survey used two existing scales (Basic Needs Satisfaction in Sport Scale [BNSSS] and Referee Retention Scale [RRS]), along with additional questions deemed important for the study purpose.
The first section of the survey was the BNSSS (Ng et al., 2011), which included 20 questions measured on a 7-point Likert scale ranging from Not true at all (1) to Very true (7). As this scale was originally designed for athletes, some questions required slight modifications for the sport officiating context. For instance, “I am skilled at my sport” was modified to “I am skilled as a sport official.” The BNSSS was chosen as it identifies the three components of SDT as factors that influence sport satisfaction. In the BNSSS, autonomy is further divided into Choice, Internal Perceived Locus of Causality (IPLOC), and Volition. The next section of the survey was the RRS (Ridinger et al., 2017), which included 28 questions measured on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from Strongly disagree (1) to Strongly agree (5). It assesses factors that influence sport officials’ retention, including Administrator Consideration, Intrinsic Motives, Mentoring, Remuneration, Sense of Community, Lack of Stress, and Continuing Education. The final section of the survey included 20 questions adapted from Hancock et al. (2015) to assess Reasons for Becoming Officials (RBO), using a 5-point Likert scale ranging from Strongly disagree (1) to Strongly agree (5). The four main reasons assessed were Intrinsic Reasons, Extrinsic Reasons, Sport-Related Reasons, and Social Reasons. These questions were created to determine the motivations of female officials to begin their role, whereas the BNSSS and RSS focus primarily on motivations to continue or quit. Both 7-point and 5-point Likert scales were used to remain as close to the original scales as possible.
Data Analysis
Data were stored in Qualtrics and exported to SPSS for analysis. First, mean scores were calculated for the subscales of each of the three surveys used herein. For the BNSSS, the subscales included Competence, Choice, IPLOC, Volition, and Relatedness. For the RRS, the subscales were Administrator Consideration, Intrinsic Motivation, Mentorship, Remuneration, Sense of Community, Lack of Stress, and Continuing Education. For the RBO, subscales included Intrinsic Motivation, Extrinsic Motivation, For the Sport Reasons, and Social Reasons. Second, we employed Pearson correlations to investigate the relationships between the various subscales used in the survey. Statistically significant correlations were defined as p < .05. Interpretations of effect sizes followed Cohen’s (1988) guidelines, with an r value of .1 considered to be low, .3 as medium, and .5 as large. Finally, we conducted a multiple regression analysis to explore any potential predictor variables (i.e., BNSSS and RBO scales) on intentions to continue/quit (i.e., RRS total score).
Results and Discussion
Since our analyses yielded several results across instruments and subscales, the Results and Discussion sections were combined to immediately unpack their meaning.
Basic Needs in Sport Satisfaction Scale
The descriptive statistics of the BNSSS subscales (see Table 1) showed that all the basic needs had a mean score of at least Agree (i.e., rated 5 or higher), with Volition being highest (M = 6.21, SD = 0.82). The relationships between BNSSS subscales were examined using Pearson correlations, as shown in Table 1. Findings indicated that all the correlations between the five subscales were positive and statistically significant (p < .01). Apart from the correlation between Relatedness and Volition, all effect sizes were medium or higher. Large effect sizes were found in the correlations between IPLOC and Volition (r[182] = .592, p < .01), IPLOC and Competence (r[180] = .573, p < .01), Choice and Competence (r[180] = .539, p < .01), and IPLOC and Relatedness (r[179] = .501, p < .01).
Descriptive Statistics and Correlations for BNSSS Variables
| Variable | n | M | SD | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Competence | 183 | 6.04 | 0.79 | — | ||||
| 2. Choice | 185 | 5.40 | 1.19 | .539** | — | |||
| 3. IPLOC | 185 | 5.89 | 1.04 | .573** | .405** | — | ||
| 4. Volition | 185 | 6.21 | 0.82 | .368** | .315** | .592** | — | |
| 5. Relatedness | 182 | 5.85 | 0.96 | .453** | .471** | .501** | .284** | — |
Note. BNSSS = Basic Needs Satisfaction in Sport Scale; IPLOC = Internal Perceived Locus of Causality.
**p < .01.
The findings of BNSSS descriptive statistics and correlations can be used to understand what keeps female sport officials involved in their roles. As outlined in the literature review, a lack of any of the basic needs could result in attrition. For this sample, the highest mean score in any BNSSS subscale was in Volition. This means that the female sport officials in this study felt strongly that they officiate according to their own free will. Since all mean scores were 5 or higher, this indicates that most participants also felt that they were skilled as officials (Competence), had opportunities to make decisions (Choice), were pursuing their own goals (IPLOC), and felt as though care and trust existed in their officiating community (Relatedness).
When examining the correlations between BNSSS subscales, it is important to note that Choice, IPLOC, and Volition are all part of a three-factor model of autonomy outlined by Ng et al. (2011). Those three variables were correlated with at least medium effects, suggesting they are all related. There was a large correlation between IPLOC and Volition, which indicates that participants who felt strongly that they were pursuing their own goals also felt as though they were officiating willingly. Sporting organizations must remain aware of the importance of autonomy among female sport officials when creating new policies and strategies. Female officials should not be forced into their role, so retention strategies should remind female officials why they initially became involved in sport officiating and help them create goals to continue working toward as time goes on. A retention strategy that is likely pervasive across sports is implementing formal mentorship—whereby mentors can help female sport officials enhance their autonomy—which is valued by female sport officials (Nordstrom et al., 2016).
Referee Retention Scale
RRS subscales provide insight into reasons sport officials remain as officials. Female sport officials rated Intrinsic Motives as the top reason they continued officiating (see Table 2; M = 4.43; SD = 0.56), whereas Remuneration had the least impact on retention decisions (M = 2.35, SD = 0.96). Unlike BNSSS, not all the subscale correlations of the RRS were significant. Positive, highly significant correlations existed between Continuing Education and every other RRS subscale except for Remuneration. The only large effect size found was between Continuing Education and Sense of Community (r[182] = .547, p < .01). Moderate effect sizes existed between Continuing Education and Administrator Consideration (r[182] = .440, p < .01), and Sense of Community and Administrator Consideration (r[180] = .410, p < .01).
Descriptive Statistics and Correlations for RRS Variables
| Variable | n | M | SD | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Administrator consideration | 184 | 3.21 | 1.02 | — | ||||||
| 2. Intrinsic motives | 185 | 4.43 | 0.56 | .064 | — | |||||
| 3. Mentorship | 185 | 3.59 | 1.09 | .109 | .037 | — | ||||
| 4. Remuneration | 186 | 2.35 | 0.96 | −.173* | −.135 | .189** | — | |||
| 5. Sense of community | 184 | 3.86 | 0.89 | .410** | .270** | .102 | .000 | — | ||
| 6. Lack of stress | 186 | 2.82 | 1.15 | .355** | .119 | −.151* | −.383** | .137 | — | |
| 7. Continuing education | 186 | 3.58 | 0.92 | .440** | .192** | .227** | −.128 | .547** | .238** | — |
Note. RRS = Referee Retention Scale.
*p < .05. **p < .01.
The high mean score for Intrinsic Motives indicated that participants felt they primarily officiated due to their enjoyment of competitions and to stay involved in sport (Ridinger et al., 2017). While this is important to remember, sporting organizations cannot easily target intrinsic reasons an individual may have when deciding to become an official—though there are steps organizations can take to facilitate prospective officials’ internal motivation (Bright et al., 2022). Specifically, sporting organizations should focus on the correlation between education and feeling part of a community. By increasing the number and quality of training opportunities provided each year, it can help increase the feelings of preparedness in female sport officials and enhance their connections to the officiating community, which is likely to improve retention (Kellett & Warner, 2011). Additionally, increasing the contact that female officials have with their male counterparts through training opportunities could provide female officials an opportunity to better ingrain themselves in the officiating community. This would also allow more opportunities to demonstrate their knowledge and skills to their fellow officials, which in turn could decrease their need to prove themselves based on their gender. Based on the existing research on female sport officials, having a sense of community (or relatedness through SDT) helps them persevere through any negative experiences they have, as well as deal with the stresses involved with the responsibilities of officiating (Baldwin & Vallance, 2016b; Kellett & Warner, 2011; Nordstrom et al., 2016; Reid & Dallaire, 2020; Tingle et al., 2014). Increased socialization among officials also allows for the opportunity to develop mentorship-based relationships, providing female officials with a fellow, more experienced, female official with whom they could discuss any issues they might encounter.
Interestingly, Continuing Education was also moderately correlated with Administrator Consideration. This highlights that when female sport officials received training, they were more likely to rate their administrators as fair and considerate. Further research could be done to determine whether that is due to the officials’ perceptions of fairness or whether the increased amount of training gave the administrators more confidence in those female officials. Sporting organizations should continue to work on improving fairness associated with game assignments by eliminating favoritism to better retain female sport officials.
Reasons to Become Officials
The descriptive statistics of the RBO subscales (see Table 3) show that Intrinsic Motivation was the strongest felt reason to begin officiating, with a mean response of 4.08 (SD = 0.66), followed by For the Sport Reasons (M = 3.97, SD = 0.70). Pearson correlation testing was used to determine the relationships between the RBO subscales. All the correlations were positive, statistically significant, and moderate to large effect sizes. The largest effect sizes existed in the correlations between Intrinsic Motivation and Social Reasons (r[183] = .626, p < .01), and Intrinsic Motivation and For the Sport Reasons (r[184] = .571, p < .01).
Descriptive Statistics and Correlations for RBO
| Variable | n | M | SD | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Intrinsic motivation | 186 | 4.08 | 0.66 | — | |||
| 2. Extrinsic motivation | 183 | 2.97 | 0.69 | .400** | — | ||
| 3. For the sport reasons | 186 | 3.97 | 0.70 | .571** | .334** | — | |
| 4. Social reasons | 185 | 3.56 | 0.87 | .626** | .493** | .388** | — |
Note. RBO = Reasons for Becoming Officials.
**p < .01.
The primary motivators for female officials to begin officiating were Intrinsic Motivation and For the Sport Reasons. These findings align with those found by Hancock et al. (2015) in their predominantly male study, suggesting that motivations to begin officiating might be similar for both female and male sport officials. The medium to large effect sizes herein suggest that these are the main motivations to enter officiating. As such, sport organizations ought to capitalize on these reasons and their relationships. Specifically, and as suggested by Bright et al. (2022), organizations could provide and advertise more opportunities for social connections, which might attract more female sport officials who are also intrinsically motivated to join.
Correlations Between Test Instruments
The next analyses aimed to identify any relationships between subscales of the three test instruments. Table 4 contains the r values of all the correlations; readers are directed to that table to review the entire results. Herein, we focus on the results most relevant to the study purpose.
Correlations Between BNSSS, RRS, and RBO
| Variable | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Competence | .227** | .433** | .073 | −.140 | .429** | .305** | .328** | .222** | .122 | .128 | .169* |
| 2. Choice | .448** | .175* | .053 | −.134 | .445** | .319** | .404** | .143 | .157* | .112 | .153* |
| 3. IPLOC | .171* | .499** | .116 | −.257** | .414** | .368** | .307** | .363** | .163** | .136 | .294** |
| 4. Volition | .288** | .276** | .133 | −.230** | .291** | .455** | .261** | .330** | .073 | .076 | .199** |
| 5. Relatedness | .335** | .226** | .220** | −.138 | .580** | .128 | .323** | .138 | .080 | .078 | .291** |
| 6. Admin consideration | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | .141 | −.001 | .200** | .159* |
| 7. Intrinsic (RRS) | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | .467** | .217** | .416** | .254** |
| 8. Mentorship | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | .149* | .234** | .071 | .233** |
| 9. Remuneration | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | −.141 | .300** | −.233** | .018 |
| 10. Sense of community | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | .155* | .161* | .015 | .270** |
| 11. Lack of stress | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | .090 | −.145 | .046 | .022 |
| 12. Continuing education | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | .229** | .181* | .160* | .204** |
| 13. Intrinsic motivations (RBO) | — | ||||||||||
| 14. Extrinsic motivations | — | ||||||||||
| 15. For the sport reasons | — | ||||||||||
| 16. Social reasons | — |
Note. BNSSS = Basic Needs Satisfaction in Sport Scale; IPLOC = Internal Perceived Locus of Causality; RRS = Referee Retention Scale; RBO = Reasons for Becoming Officials.
*p < .05. **p < .01.
BNSSS Versus RRS
The RRS subscales of Administrator Consideration, Intrinsic Motives, Sense of Community, and Continuing Education showed significant relationships (p < .05) with all five of the basic needs. The largest effect size was between Relatedness and Sense of Community (r[178] = .580, p < .01), which is logical when considering they both describe interpersonal connections. In fact, feeling a sense of community could be classified under the definition of relatedness. The correlation between IPLOC and Intrinsic Motives is also intuitive, as the IPLOC items evaluated whether the officials felt they were pursuing their own goals and whether they were doing what they wanted to be doing by officiating—all of which are included in intrinsic motives.
The relationships between these two questionnaires should be considered when creating new strategies to increase retention of female sport officials. Administrator Consideration, Sense of Community, and Continuing Education were all correlated with all five basic needs; therefore, addressing each one could better satisfy the needs of sport officials and encourage them to remain as officials. For example, organizations could examine increasing fairness when assigning officials to competitions (Administrator Consideration), increasing opportunities for social interactions (Sense of Community), and/or increasing the amount of yearly training the female sport officials receive (Continuing Education). Intrinsic motivation was also correlated with all BNSSS subscales, but those motives are highly individual and are difficult to tackle from an organizational perspective.
BNSSS Versus RBO
Second, for the BNSSS and RBO subscales, the most notable findings were the positive, significant (p < .05) correlations between Social Reasons and the five different basic needs, with two of them approaching medium effect sizes: IPLOC and Relatedness. The correlations between Social Reasons and all the BNSSS subscales highlight that providing social opportunities enhances the likelihood that female sport officials’ basic needs are met. As such, sport organizations should look to increase the social opportunities provided to female officials. Officiating can be lonely, as there is often only one or two officials at a sporting event (Baldwin & Vallance, 2016a, 2016b; Webb et al., 2021). Providing more frequent social events could be a useful method to recruit more female sport officials and could also help retain them by satisfying their basic needs. With current officials, these social activities could be organized in conjunction with ongoing training (Continuing Education), which also seems to increase the satisfaction of the basic needs.
RRS Versus RBO
Lastly, we explored the relationships between the RRS and RBO subscales. Notably, the relationships between Intrinsic Motives (RRS) to remain as officials and all RBO subscales, along with Continuing Education and all RBO subscales, were positively correlated and significant (p < .05). Moderate effect sizes were found between Intrinsic Motives (RRS) and Intrinsic Motivation (RBO; r[183] = .467, p < .01), Intrinsic Motives and For the Sport Reasons (r[183] = .416, p < .01), and Remuneration and Extrinsic Motivation (r[181] = .300, p < .01).
The large correlations that existed between Intrinsic Motives in the RRS and Intrinsic Motivations and For the Sport Reasons in the RBO align as expected, as they measure the same concept. Further, the intrinsic motives outlined by Ridinger et al. (2017) included staying involved with and giving back to their sports; therefore, strong correlations were expected. That said, individualized intrinsic motives are hard to identify since they vary from person to person; for instance, one sport official might be intrinsically motivated to stay in shape, another to develop their officiating skills, and a third to help their sport. From an organizational perspective, that makes identifying and enhancing intrinsic motivations challenging, thereby restricting recruitment and retention strategies. Instead, sport organizations could focus on other aspects identified in these scales, such as continuing education opportunities, which correlated with all RBO subscales. This could include continuing to provide training opportunities through workshops, evaluations, or achieving higher certification levels.
Regression Analysis
Our final result stemmed from conducting a multiple linear regression analysis to ascertain whether any BNSSS or RBO subscales predicted retention, as measured by the total RRS score (higher RRS scores indicate stronger likelihood of retention). Cook’s distance for all cases was below 0.1, indicating no influential cases. On the other hand, there existed nine cases where Mahalanobis’ distance exceeded the recommended value; however, when removed from the analysis, the model did not change. Thus, all cases were kept for the analysis. Next, all variation inflation factor values were below 2.5, posing no concern for multicollinearity. Lastly, inspecting the scatterplots revealed good homoscedasticity.
We analyzed two models to identify potential predictor variables. In the first model, we entered all the BNSSS subscales. In the second model, we added all RBO subscales to the existing model. Since both models significantly enhanced our capability to predict retention (i.e., RRS scores), our focus is on the second model. To begin, the second model was significant, F(9, 160) = 13.66, p < .001, R2 = .43 (an increase of .05 from the R2 value of the first model). In other words, participants’ responses to the BNSSS and RBO subscales accounted for 43% of the variance in intentions to continue versus quit (i.e., RRS scores). Three predictors were significant: BNSSS Choice (β = 2.62, t[169] = 3.19, p < .01), BNSSS Volition (β = 2.73, t[169] = 2.37, p < .05), and BNSSS Relatedness (β = 3.08, t[169] = 3.15, p < .01). These unstandardized beta values are quite large, essentially indicating that for every one-point increase on Choice, Volition, or Relatedness, RSS scores would increase between 2.62 and 3.08. Further, BNSSS Competence approached significance (β = 2.13, t[169] = 1.71, p = .09). Despite the RBO subscales significantly improving the overall model prediction, only RBO Social Reasons approached significance (β = 2.42, t[169] = 1.93, p = .06).
This result is very exciting for female sport officials specifically and all sport officials generally. Essentially, small changes that organizations make to increase Choice, Volition, and Relatedness could have significant and positive effects on female sport officials’ retention. Integrating this result with those found in the correlations, any subscale that was highly correlated with Choice, Volition, and Relatedness would also contribute to increased retention (such as Administrator Consideration, Sense of Community, or Continuing Education). By meeting the intrinsic motivations of female officials, SDT posits that personal and organizational success and goals will be met (Deci et al., 2017). Improvements in the scores of Sense of Community, Relatedness, and Administrator Consideration would be deemed personal success for female officials, thereby increasing retention, which is the organizational goal. Of the three significant regression subscales, Relatedness is the easiest for sport organizations to target by providing opportunities for sport officials to make meaningful relationships and build their own supportive communities. Not only would an increase in Relatedness felt by female sport officials make them less likely to quit, but it would also increase the overall number of officials and help address the current shortage. These findings should be the driving force for any new female official retention strategies created by sporting organizations.
Conclusions
From a practical standpoint, this study has outlined key correlated motivational variables among female sport officials. For instance, an increase in Continuing Education was correlated with an increase in all five basic needs and all four RBO. Other variables that were correlated with all five basic needs of officials included Administrator Consideration, Intrinsic Motivations, Sense of Community, and Social Reasons to begin. Perhaps the most important finding was that BNSSS and RBO scores predicted retention of female sport officials. These findings ought to be used by sporting organizations as focal points in the creation and implementation of recruitment and retention strategies for female sport officials.
Limitations and Future Directions
Due to the cross-sectional nature of this study, the findings might not reflect the motivations/intentions of female sport officials at different time points in their careers. Also, the majority of participants officiated team sports such as ice hockey and baseball/fast-pitch/softball, with few responses from individual or aesthetic sports. This limits generalizability of the findings, and more research should be done to examine the other types of sports.
Since this is the first quantitative study conducted on the motivations of female sports officials, more research should be done to confirm these findings. With the exception of Tingle et al.’s study in 2014, all studies exclusively targeting female sport officials have used active officials; therefore, it would be beneficial if future researchers examined the motivations of potential female officials (e.g., athletes—similar to Bright et al. [2022], but with only female athletes) or former officials. Studying the motivations of all three populations would provide a more holistic understanding of why females begin officiating, why female officials continue, and why female former officials decided to quit. To confirm the results found in this study, researchers ought to further examine the relationship between continuing education and the relatedness felt between female officials. This could be done quantitatively by examining other populations, or it could be done qualitatively by implementing an education intervention and interviewing female officials for their opinions of whether or not it improved their perceived relatedness. Lastly, researchers should also examine the differences between scores in male and female officials’ motivations to determine whether recruitment and retention strategies should differ between the two groups. This would, consequently, provide sport organizations with the recommendations of how, or if, recruitment and retention strategies should differ between male and female officials. Such an approach could also lead to explorations of how to recruit and retain female sport officials who identify with other marginalized groups (e.g., racial minorities or LGBTQ+ community).
Guidelines for Sport Organizations
We end by offering a synthesized list of SDT-informed recommendations for sport organizations to consider, which are grounded in the research herein. Not all organizations may feel this is within their purview/mandate, but without meaningful organizational change, the shortage of female sport officials will continue. Thus, we suggest that organizations consider the following recommendations:
- a.Focus on increasing relatedness by creating a community of sport officials (both male and female) who can support each other through the stress and challenges that come with the profession. Ways to do so could include icebreaker events, teamwork exercises, banquets, award ceremonies, or fun social activities with the sole purpose of fostering relationships and trust between officials (Relatedness).
- b.Provide multiple training sessions for female sport officials to increase education and feelings of competence. These need not be mandatory but rather offered as opportunities for officials who wish to engage with their organizations and improve their abilities (Competence).
- c.Provide opportunities to reignite passion for the sport within female officials to remind them of their reasons for beginning in their role. This could be done via recreational sporting events meant solely for the participation of officials or by providing opportunities to mentor current players/fellow officials if desired (Autonomy).
Note
This competitive level captures athletes who play competitive youth and early adult sport (e.g., a U13 soccer team whereby players are selected to the team via tryouts and travel to games to play competitive matches).
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