OCCUPATIONAL COMMITMENT AND INTENT TO LEAVE THE COACHING PROFESSION Academic Article uri icon

abstract

  • Despite the predominance of Black athletes in much of collegiate athletics today, Black coaches constitute a small proportion of the total coaching population. To this end, we posited that the deficiency could be attributed to the notion that Black coaches leave the profession sooner than do White coaches. In taking an institutional theory perspective, the purpose of this study was to examine possible differences between Black and White assistant coaches for affective occupational commitment and intent to leave the coaching profession. Results of multiple hierarchical regression analyses indicate that normative isomorphic pressures are significant predictors of professional socialization, which in turn predicts commitment to the profession. Finally, there is an inverse relationship between affective occupational commitment and intent to leave the profession. Findings from the study supported the theory to explain the paucity of Black coaches in the NCAA by demonstrating that the deficit could be attributed to the fact that more Black coaches intend to leave the profession than do White coaches. This is true regardless of the fact that Black coaches perceived greater professional socialization than Whites and similar feelings of affective commitment. Implications and directions for future research are discussed.

published proceedings

  • International Review for the Sociology of Sport

altmetric score

  • 0.5

author list (cited authors)

  • Cunningham, G. B., Sagas, M., & Ashley, F. B.

citation count

  • 44

complete list of authors

  • Cunningham, George B||Sagas, Michael||Ashley, Frank B

publication date

  • June 2001