| The causes and consequences of job satisfaction-dissatisfaction have been popular topics for research in the field of industrial organizational psychology. Although the causes of satisfaction in sport has been addressed by a few researchers, there has been no empirical attention given to what occurs when an athlete is not satisfied. However, anecdotal evidence indicates that collegiate athletes who are dissatisfied are more likely to transfer, quit, stage player mutinies, assist in getting the head coach fired, and physical violence. The purpose of the present study was to test a sport specific model on integrating personal and situational variables, determinant factors of dissatisfaction, and consequential action alternatives. Questionnaires were administered to 369 male and female college soccer players from over 29 different Division I universities from various regions. Structural equation modeling results demonstrated that the proposed model adequately fit the sample data (chi sq/df = 2.97), although it is far from being exact. As predicted, numerous significant direct effects were indicated which linked personal and situational variables to both determinant factors and adaptive/maladaptive consequential alternatives. For example, discrepancy in coaching behaviors lead to dissatisfaction with coaches, which then lead to the use of maladaptive alternatives, which represent negative influences on the athletes' behavioral, psychological, and emotional well being. In addition, motives for participation and ego goal orientation lead to adaptive consequential alternatives. Based upon the significant direct and indirect effects, implications for dissatisfied athletes, their coaches, support staff, and athletic administrators are presented. Additionally, intervention strategies designed to address the identification and remediation of athlete dissatisfaction experiences are presented. |
