Title: Why sport ticket salespeople leave their jobs: applying attribution theory to employee turnover

Authors: Nels Popp; Liz A. Sattler; David Pierce; Megan B. Shreffler

Addresses: Department of Exercise and Sport Science, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Campus Box 8700, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA ' School of Kinesiology and Recreation, Illinois State University, Campus Box 5120, Normal, IL, 61761, USA ' Department of Tourism, Event and Sport Management, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, 901 West New York Street, Indianapolis, IN, 46202, USA ' Department of Health and Sport Sciences, University of Louisville, 2100 South Floyd Street, SAC E, 104 M, Louisville, KY, 40292, USA

Abstract: Professional sports teams report high levels of turnover among ticket salespeople. utilising attribution theory (Heider, 1958), the current study examined the reasons why ticket salespeople leave their jobs by surveying both current and former ticket sales professionals from North American 'Big 4' sports teams (N = 511). Mutable factors such as pay, leadership style, and professional development opportunity were cited as stronger reasons for leaving than immutable factors such as team success and customer rejection. Significant differences emerged regarding factors attributed to sales success between three groups: a) those in sport ticket sales positions; b) those who continue to work in the sport industry but in a different area than ticket sales; c) those who left the sport industry altogether. The constructs of 'ability' and 'training' related to sales success were rated significantly higher, and the construct of 'luck' significantly lower, for those who persisted in ticket sales positions.

Keywords: ticket sales; employee turnover; salesperson; attribution theory; sport sales.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSMM.2022.124048

International Journal of Sport Management and Marketing, 2022 Vol.22 No.3/4, pp.265 - 286

Received: 09 Apr 2021
Accepted: 06 Dec 2021

Published online: 11 Jul 2022 *

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