The coaching profession can be an exciting, rewarding, and satisfying career, but the nature of the job can affect coaches’ emotional and physical well-being. This, in turn, makes coaches vulnerable or susceptible to various negative behavioral outcomes that can decrease coach stability and affect athlete performance or participation. Maslach and Jackson (1984) conceptualize burnout as “a psychological syndrome of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and reduced personal accomplishment that can occur among individuals who work with people in some capacity” (p. 134). Additionally, job satisfaction is related to “withdrawal behavior, turnover, and absenteeism, and withdrawal intentions” (Spector, 1994, p. 695). Therefore, the purposes of this study was to explore levels of job satisfaction and burnout with fast-pitch softball coaches and if job satisfaction predicted burnout.
Method:
All members of the National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) were invited to complete an online survey via e-mail. A total of 326 (73 females, 253 males) high school, collegiate, and travel ball fast-pitch softball coaches participated in this study. Participants reported 22.01 years (SD = 9.72) of coaching experience with 11.25 years (SD = 8.11) in their current position. Participants completed demographic questions, the Job Satisfaction Survey (JSS; Spector, 1994), and the Mashlach Burnout Inventory (MBI, Maslach & Jackson, 1996). The JSS measures job satisfaction on nine factors: pay, promotion, supervision, fringe benefits, contingent rewards, operating conditions, coworkers, nature of work, and communication. The MBI measures burnout on three factors: emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and personal achievement.
Analysis/Results:
Means and standard deviations revealed that coaches were satisfied with four aspects of job satisfaction (i.e., supervision, coworkers, communication, and nature of work) and ambivalent toward five (i.e., fringe benefits, operating conditions, contingent rewards, pay, and promotion). With regard to burnout, participants reported moderate levels of emotional exhaustion and depersonalization and low levels of personal achievement. The stepwise multiple regression analysis revealed nature of work, operating conditions, contingent rewards, and promotion predicted burnout, with nature of work predicting all three factors of burnout (i.e., emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and personal achievement).
Conclusions:
The relationship between job satisfaction and burnout provides insight into factors that contribute to fast-pitch softball coaches’ moderate to high levels of burnout. Self-Determination Theory (SDT; Deci & Ryan, 1985) may provide a useful framework for further understanding the relationship between job satisfaction and burnout. Practical strategies will focus on ways administrators’ can cultivate self-determined forms of motivation to nurture job satisfaction and; thus, prevent burnout.