Job Embeddedness: Effects on Coaches' Turnover Intentions

In the high pressure world of intercollegiate athletics, turnover among coaches, especially female coaches, is quite routine (Knoppers, 1992) Due to the immense costs associated with turnover, employee retention has received a great deal of study. Most of these studies have focused on attitudinal measures regarding work, such as job satisfaction and organizational commitment, and how they relate to turnover. However, recently it has become clear that attitudinal measures play only a small role in explaining turnover and that more holistic attempts to elucidate it are necessary (Michell, Holtom, Lee, Samblynski, & Erez, 2002). Subsequently, Mitchell, et al., (2002) created a new construct termed "job embeddedness" which is defined as a net or web of factors that enmeshes individuals to their position and is comprised of six components: organizational link, community link, organizational fit, community fit, organizational sacrifice, and community sacrifice. To develop better methods of retention, particularly for female coaches, the purpose of this research was: 1) determine if embeddedness could explain variance in coaching turnover beyond traditional attitudinal measures; and 2) determine whether male and female coaches differed on the six components of embeddedness. Mitchell et al.’s (2002) survey was revised to reflect the coaching profession and sent to all head, first, and second assistant softball coaches in Division III intercollegiate athletic departments (N=580). Thirty-seven percent of coaches consented and responded. A hierarchical multiple regression was conducted to determine whether embeddedness predicted a significant amount of variance in turnover intentions beyond gender and job satisfaction and commitment. The regression was significant as the combined variables accounted for 42% of the variance in turnover, F(4, 200)=37.6, p < .001. Embeddedness accounted for a significant R² change, .029, F(1, 203),=10.1, p < .001 beyond gender, R² change=.048, F(1, 203)=10.3, p< .001; and satisfaction and commitment, R² change=.351, F(2, 202)=59.1, p < .000). MANOVA indicated that males and females differed on the components of embeddeness, Pillia’s=.164, F(6, 106)=3.45, p < .001). ANOVAs revealed that women had significantly lower mean scores on community related sacrifice (h ²=.12), community fit(h ²=.10), organizational fit (h ²=.07), and organizational link (h ²=.06). Discussion will focus on how sport administrators can utilize the concept of embeddedness to devise strategies to prevent turnover with particular emphasis placed on methods designed to retain female coaches.