Job Satisfaction of Sport Management Faculty in the U.S.A

Attitudes are involved in every aspect of an organizational life. Employees have attitudes about hundreds of things, including their pay, promotion opportunities, their supervisors, top management, the work they do, and their co-workers. An attitude is a hypothetical construct; it is not real and it cannot be touched, seen, etc, thus it has to be inferred by what an individual says or does. The comprehensive and productive way of analyzing how sport management faculty feel about their job is through the use of attitude surveys. Some of the most important attitudes within any organization are attitudes related to job satisfaction. High job satisfaction contributes to job involvement, organizational commitment, greater quality of life and improved mental and physical health. However, job dissatisfaction contributes to turnover, absenteeism, labor grievances, labor problems, attempts to organize labor unions and a negative organizational climate. There is a dearth of empirical investigation within the field of sport management addressing job satisfaction. The purpose of this study was to determine sport management faculty members' job satisfaction using the pay and promotion facets of the Job Descriptive Index and the Job in General Scale. Since this study was exploratory, all of the sport management faculty within the United States were chosen. Utilizing Cawley's (2000) list of sport management programs in the U.S., a survey was mailed to 234 sport management faculty which also included a demographic section. There were 171 usable surveys, yielding a 73% return rate. A t-test was used to determine mean differences between institution type, gender and tenure status and satisfaction of job in general; institution type, gender and tenure status and pay satisfaction; institution type, gender and tenure status and promotion satisfaction. Differences were found between the following: institution type concerning satisfaction of job in general, t=-3.339, (p=.001); male and female faculty concerning satisfaction of job in general, t=-3.407, (p=.001); tenure and non-tenured concerning satisfaction of job in general, t=.635, (p=.526); male and female faculty and pay satisfaction, t=-2.895, (p=.004); institution type and pay satisfaction, t=-4.641, (p=.000); tenure and non-tenured concerning pay satisfaction, t=1.245, p=.215; institution type iv concerning promotion satisfaction, t=-1.575, (p=.117); male and female faculty concerning promotion satisfaction, t=-.435, (p=.665); tenure and non-tenured concerning promotion satisfaction, t=1.029, (p=.305). The findings of this study will help sport management as a field to examine its strengths and weaknesses; as well as understand the faculty and their level of satisfaction of job in general, pay satisfaction and promotion satisfaction. Future studies are recommended for investigating the other facets of the Job Descriptive Index (i.e. supervisors, co-workers and work itself) and sport management faculty. It is also recommended for an international study of sport management faculty and their level of pay and promotion satisfaction. v BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH Chevelle Hall was born in 1974 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. She was primarily raised in Boca Raton, Florida. In 1992, she graduated from Boca Raton High School. After high school, she went to Florida A&M University, where she earned a bachelor's of science degree in psychology. Shortly, thereafter, she earned a master's degree in educational counseling. In 1999, Chevelle began a doctorate of philosophy degree in sport management at the Florida State University. As a student, Ms. Hall presented at the Florida Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance (FAHPERD) conference in the Fall of 2002 and the Fall of 2003. Chevelle presented at the Southern District Association (SDAHPERD) convention in the Spring of 2003. She was also selected to do a poster presentation for the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance (AAHPERD) for Spring 2004.