Scheduled for Research Consortium Sport Management, Recreation and Leisure Poster Session, Friday, April 28, 2006, 1:15 PM - 2:45 PM, Convention Center: Exhibit Hall Poster Area I


Satisfaction of Selected Female College Athletes With Organizational Support

Jennifer VanSickle and Christine A. Lauber, University of Indianapolis, Indianapolis, IN

Since the passage of Title IX, many practitioners and researchers have focused on resource allocation in intercollegiate athletic departments, concentrating primarily on the discrepancy in funding between men's and women's athletic programs. More recently, however, researchers have investigated decision-makers and the means by which administrators determine the distribution of an athletic department's resources (Mahony, Hums, Reimer, 2005) and have asked various stakeholders their perceptions of the fairness of various distributive principles (Mahony, Hums, Reimer, 2002; Hums & Chelladurai, 1994). However, none of these studies have examined the allocation of resources from the student-athlete's perspective. According to Reimer & Chelladurai (1998) athletes take on a preeminent role in fulfilling the organizational objectives of the intercollegiate athletic department and their satisfaction may be the ultimate measure of organizational effectiveness. Therefore, the purpose of this research was to investigate whether softball athletes were satisfied with the amount of organizational support provided to their team, and to compare the perceived level of support between Division I-A and Division I-AA. Softball athletes (n=224) from two NCAA Division I conferences completed the Athlete Satisfaction Questionnaire (Reimer & Chelladurai, 1998). Using a 7-point Likert scale, respondents rated their satisfaction with organizational support in 4 areas: budget, medical personnel, academic support, and external agents. Descriptive statistics showed that the respondents were not dissatisfied with the overall organizational support of the athletic departments (x=4.25). An Independent Samples t-test with an alpha level of .05 was used to analyze differences between the two Divisions regarding overall satisfaction, and an alpha level of .01, due to a Bonferroni correction, was established to determine differences in the areas of budget, medical personnel, academic support, and external agents (.05/4 = .01). Results revealed no differences between Division I-A and Division I-AA softball athletes in overall satisfaction with the organization, and in satisfaction with budget, external agents, and medical personnel. A difference was identified in satisfaction in academic support. These data suggest that, overall, softball athletes are not dissatisfied with the level of support provided by their athletic departments. However, due to the difference in satisfaction regarding academic support, athletic departments may want to review the resources allocated to academics to ensure that they are meeting the needs and desires of their athletes. Additional study is needed which includes athletes, both male and female, from a variety of teams to determine levels of satisfaction with and support provided by athletic departments.
Keyword(s): athletics/sports, sport management

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