Year: 2012
Type: dissertation
Abstract: Organizational stressors are prevalent within competitive sport participation and can elicit a\nnumber of undesirable consequences for sport performers who encounter them if they are not\nsufficiently addressed. It is, therefore, imperative that psychologists have evidence-based\nresearch that can inform their understanding of the organizational stressors that sport\nperformers encounter, so that psychologists can, ultimately, help sport performers to address\nsuch stressors. To provide such research, the purpose of this thesis was to assess and examine\nthe organizational stressors that sport performers encounter via a series of seven related\nstudies. Following an introduction to the thesis, Chapter Two provides a literature review of\nthe concepts, definitions, and theories of stress, and the psychometric issues evident in\norganizational stressor research. Chapter Three (Study One) reports a meta-interpretation of\nthe studies that have identified the organizational stressors encountered by sport performers,\nand presents the findings as a taxonomic classification. This synthesis with taxonomy\nillustrates the large number and wide range of organizational stressors that sport performers\nencounter and provides the most accurate, comprehensive, and parsimonious classification of\norganizational stressors to date. In addition, the findings are valid, generalizable, and\napplicable to a large number of sport performers of various ages, genders, nationalities,\nsports, and standards. In the context of the thesis, Chapter Three is of primary importance in\nshaping and informing the research in the later chapters. For example, Chapter Four (Studies\nTwo to Five) describes the development and validation of an Organizational Stressor\nIndicator for Sport Performers (OSI-SP), which is conceptually underpinned by the findings\nof Study One. In Chapter Four, Study Two reports the development of the indicator via the\nrecruitment of an expert and usability panel to assess the content validity and applicability of\nan initial item pool. Study Three analyses the subsequent 96 items forwarded from Study\nTwo with exploratory factor analyses (EFAs) and the results illustrate a five-factor structure\n(viz. Goals and Development, Logistics and Operations, Team and Culture, Coaching,\nSelection) and 33 items. Using confirmatory factor analyses (CFAs), Studies Four and Five\nprovide support for this five-factor structure. Study Five also provides evidence for the\nconcurrent validity of the indicator and its invariance across different groups. A main\nconclusion of Chapter Four is that the OSI-SP is a valid and reliable measure of a\ncomprehensive range of organizational stressors that sport performers encounter. Using this\nindicator, a series of multivariate analyses of covariance (MANCOVAs) were conducted in\nStudy Six to examine sport performer’s individual demographic differences in organizational \nstressors. This study is reported in Chapter Five and reveals that individual demographic\ndifferences do affect the dimensions of goals and development, logistics and operations, team\nand culture, coaching, and selection organizational stressors. Specifically, significant\ndifferences are evident between males and females; team, individual, and team and individual\nbased sport performers; and individuals competing at national or international, regional or\nuniversity, and county or club levels. Expanding the focus from stressors to the wider stress\nprocess, Chapter Six (Study Seven) reports an investigation of the moderating effect of\ncoping on the relationship between organizational stressors encountered in competitive sport\nand the outcomes that individuals experience. Multiple regression in this study indicated the\nfollowing main effects: the dimensions of many organizational stressors had a main effect on\nnegative affect; problem-focused coping had a main effect on positive and negative affect;\nemotion-focused coping had a main effect on negative affect; and avoidance coping had an\ninverse main effect on positive affect. The moderated hierarchical regression analyses\nconducted in this study revealed one significant interaction between emotion-focused coping\nand the frequency and duration of stressors on intensity of stressors; and three significant\ninteractions between avoidance coping and the frequency and duration of stressors on\npositive affect. These findings provide an insight into which coping styles buffer the impact\nof organizational stressors at different stages of the stress process. Following this final study,\nChapter Eight provides a summary of the studies presented in this thesis; a discussion of the\ntheoretical contributions, practical implications, strengths and limitations, and future research\ndirections; and a conclusion. Overall, this programme of research provides a greater\nunderstanding of organizational stressors and their relationships with other constructs and\nfurther components of the stress process; therefore, advancing theoretical and scientific\nknowledge in this area. Practically, the findings presented in this thesis can be incorporated\ninto stress management interventions to, ultimately, address the heightened prevalence of\norganizational stressors in competitive sport and, in doing so, negate the undesirable\nconsequences that they can create.
Author: Rachel Arnold
Language: English
Subfield: Developmental and Educational Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W156899324