Title: Sport identification and employee pride: key factors in sport employee psychology

Authors: Steve Swanson; Aubrey Kent

Addresses: Institute for Sport Business, Loughborough University, London, 3 Lesney Avenue, The Broadcast Centre, Here East, Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, Stratford, E15 2GZ, London, UK ' STHM and Fox School of Business and Management, School of Tourism and Hospitality Management, Temple University, 371 Speakman Hall, 1810 N 13th Street, Philadelphia, PA, 19122, USA

Abstract: The current study used a positive psychology approach to gain insight on employees working within the professional sports industry. While psychological fulfilment has been proposed as a critical area of distinction for managing in the sport environment, there is a need for empirical investigation relating to this proposition. The purpose of the current study was to address this gap in the literature and assess the role of psychological fulfilment in the form of sport employee pride. This study also addresses the role of identification with a specific sport and introduces this concept to the organisational behaviour literature more generally. More than 1,000 employees from five different professional sports leagues participated in the study, with structural equation modelling results providing support for sport identification and employee pride having a positive influence on satisfaction and organisational citizenship behaviour. Implications for sport managers are that employees working in this environment can have a psychological connection with a particular sport, which in turn augments employee pride and leads to positive attitudes and behaviours in the workplace. The results of this study are significant to sport managers in relation to human resource decisions and promoting positive psychology in the workplace.

Keywords: pride; identification; sport; psychological fulfillment; satisfaction; organizational citizenship behaviors; organizational behavior; human resource management; employees.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSMM.2017.083986

International Journal of Sport Management and Marketing, 2017 Vol.17 No.1/2, pp.32 - 51

Received: 02 Apr 2016
Accepted: 22 Nov 2016

Published online: 30 Apr 2017 *

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