Psychometric Issues in Organizational Stressor Research: A Review and Implications for Sport Psychology

Organizational stressors can potentially elicit a number of undesirable consequences for sport performers. It is, therefore, imperative that psychologists better understand the demands that athletes encounter via their exploration and assessment. However, although researchers have identified a wide range of organizational stressors in competitive sport, they have yet to develop a measure or indicator to assess them. In contrast, scholars in other psychology subdisciplines have designed measures of organizational-related stressors, which have the potential to inform the advancement of stress research in sport. The purpose of this article is, therefore, to review psychometric issues in organizational stressor research and discuss the implications for sport psychology. The narrative is divided into four main areas: conceptual and theoretical issues, item development issues, measurement and scoring issues, and analytical and statistical issues.     

Psychological resilience in sport performers: a review of stressors and protective factors

Abstract

Psychological resilience is important in sport because athletes must utilise and optimise a range of mental qualities to withstand the pressures that they experience. In this article, we discuss psychological resilience in sport performers via a review of the stressors athletes encounter and the protective factors that help them withstand these demands. It is hoped that synthesising what is known in these areas will help researchers gain a deeper profundity of resilience in sport, and also provide a rigorous and robust foundation for the development of a sport-specific measure of resilience. With these points in mind, we divided the narrative into two main sections. In the first section, we review the different types of stressors encountered by sport performers under three main categories: competitive, organisational and personal. Based on our recent research examining psychological resilience in Olympics champions, in the second section we discuss the five main families of psychological factors (viz. positive personality, motivation, confidence, focus, perceived social support) that protect the best athletes from the potential negative effect of stressors. It is anticipated that this review will help sport psychology researchers examine the interplay between stressors and protective factors, which will, in turn, focus the analytical lens on the processes underlying psychological resilience in athletes.     

Getting to the heart of the matter: A diary study of swimmers’ appraisals of organisational stressors

Abstract

We explored sport performers’ cognitive appraisals of organisational stressors. The relevant demands and transactional alternatives that athletes experience in relation to the situational properties were identified. Thirteen national standard swimmers completed semi-structured, interval-contingent daily diaries for a 28-day period. A combination of inductive and deductive content analysis was used to organise and analyse the diary entries with a focus on the following areas: organisational stressors, their underlying situational properties, and the swimmers’ transactional alternatives. One hundred and thirty-one of the organisational stressors were appraised as threat, 41 as challenge, and 83 as harm/loss. Support was found for the majority of Lazarus and Folkman's (1984) situational properties with the only exception being temporal uncertainty. Imminence was associated with the greatest number of threat appraisals (47), novelty was associated with the greatest number of challenge appraisals (17), and duration was associated with the greatest number of harm/loss appraisals (22). It is concluded that appraisal plays a pivotal role in sport performers’ experiences of their organisational environment. Swimmers’ transactional alternatives are influenced by the situational properties of the stressors encountered.     

Stress in elite sport performers: a comparative study of competitive and organizational stressors

The purpose of this study was to compare the content and quantity of competitive and organizational stressors in elite athletes. Ten international performers were interviewed about sources of stress. Content analysis of the data involved categorizing the demands associated primarily and directly with competitive performance (#CS = 21) under the post hoc dimension "performance issues", and the demands associated primarily and directly with the sport organization (#OS = 72) under one of the following four post hoc dimensions: "environmental issues", "personal issues", "leadership issues" and "team issues". Frequency analysis revealed that the participants mentioned the competitive stressors (sigma = 95) less than the organizational stressors (sigma = 215). Further analysis within these categories showed that the mean number of participants citing individual competitive stressors (M = 4.52) was greater than the mean number of participants citing individual organizational stressors (M = 2.99). The findings indicate that elite athletes experience and recall more demands associated primarily and directly with the sport organization than with competitive performance. Furthermore, this population appears more likely to mention similar competitive stressors but varied organizational stressors, probably because the former are inherent and endemic to elite sport, whereas the latter are essentially extraneous and widely distributed.     

Competition stress in sport performers: Stressors experienced in the competition environment

Abstract

We examined the performance and organizational stressors encountered by elite and non-elite athletes within the competition environment. Twelve sport performers (6 elite, 6 non-elite) were interviewed about both performance and organizational-related demands experienced when preparing for competition. The framework presented identifies five performance (i.e. preparation, injury, expectations, self-presentation, and rivalry) and five organizational (i.e. factors intrinsic to the sport, roles in the sport organization, sport relationships and interpersonal demands, athletic career and performance development issues, and organizational structure and climate of the sport) stress sources. A similar quantity of performance (#PS) and organizational (#OS) stressors were encountered by elite performers (#PS = 127; #OS = 72) as by non-elite athletes (#PS = 123; #OS = 74), with some demands being common and others unique to each group. Although the findings suggest that, prior to competing, sport performers encounter more stressors pertinent to performance than those emanating from the organization, these observations highlight that all the demands faced by athletes should be considered when preparing and implementing interventions to manage competition stress.     

Performers' responses to stressors encountered in sport organisations

We investigated athletes' responses to organisational stressors. Ten sport performers (five males and five females) were interviewed with regard to the organisational-related demands they had encountered and their responses to these stressors. The main emotional responses that were revealed were anger, anxiety, disappointment, distress, happiness, hope, relief, reproach and resentment. The main attitudinal responses were beliefs, motivation and satisfaction. The main behavioural responses were categorised as verbal and physical. The data indicate that performers generally respond to organisational stressors with a wide range of emotions, attitudes and behaviours. The findings are discussed in relation to the extant literature and in terms of their implications for applied practice and future research. Consultants should employ reactive strategies alongside proactive approaches to ensure that performers are psychologically prepared to manage and cope with any demands that are not eliminated. Future research should focus on performers' cognitive appraisals of the organisational stressors they encounter.     

Stress in elite sport performers: A comparative study of competitive and organizational stressors

The purpose of this study was to compare the content and quantity of competitive and organizational stressors in elite athletes. Ten international performers were interviewed about sources of stress. Content analysis of the data involved categorizing the demands associated primarily and directly with competitive performance (#CS = 21) under the post hoc dimension “performance issues”, and the demands associated primarily and directly with the sport organization (#OS = 72) under one of the following four post hoc dimensions: “environmental issues”, “personal issues”, “leadership issues” and “team issues”. Frequency analysis revealed that the participants mentioned the competitive stressors (Σ = 95) less than the organizational stressors (Σ = 215). Further analysis within these categories showed that the mean number of participants citing individual competitive stressors (M = 4.52) was greater than the mean number of participants citing individual organizational stressors (M = 2.99). The findings indicate that elite athletes experience and recall more demands associated primarily and directly with the sport organization than with competitive performance. Furthermore, this population appears more likely to mention similar competitive stressors but varied organizational stressors, probably because the former are inherent and endemic to elite sport, whereas the latter are essentially extraneous and widely distributed.     

Performers' responses to stressors encountered in sport organisations

Abstract

We investigated athletes' responses to organisational stressors. Ten sport performers (five males and five females) were interviewed with regard to the organisational-related demands they had encountered and their responses to these stressors. The main emotional responses that were revealed were anger, anxiety, disappointment, distress, happiness, hope, relief, reproach and resentment. The main attitudinal responses were beliefs, motivation and satisfaction. The main behavioural responses were categorised as verbal and physical. The data indicate that performers generally respond to organisational stressors with a wide range of emotions, attitudes and behaviours. The findings are discussed in relation to the extant literature and in terms of their implications for applied practice and future research. Consultants should employ reactive strategies alongside proactive approaches to ensure that performers are psychologically prepared to manage and cope with any demands that are not eliminated. Future research should focus on performers' cognitive appraisals of the organisational stressors they encounter.     

Stressors experienced by injured athletes

The purpose of this study was twofold: (a) to examine the stressors experienced by injured athletes during three phases of their recovery from sport injury, and (b) to explore the differences in the stressors experienced by team as compared to individual-sport athletes. Participants comprised previously injured high-level rugby union players (n = 5) and golfers (n = 5). Semi-structured interviews were used to explore the stressors participants experienced during three phases of injury (onset, rehabilitation and return to competitive sport). Within- and cross-case analyses showed that athletes experienced sport, medical/physical, social and financial stressors. There were a number of differences in the stressors experienced across the three phases and between team and individual-sport athletes. Findings have important implications for the design and implementation of interventions aimed at managing the potentially stressful sport injury experience and facilitating injured athletes' return to competitive sport.     

Physical activity for health

Abstract

The purpose of this study was twofold: (a) to examine the stressors experienced by injured athletes during three phases of their recovery from sport injury, and (b) to explore the differences in the stressors experienced by team as compared to individual-sport athletes. Participants comprised previously injured high-level rugby union players (n = 5) and golfers (n = 5). Semi-structured interviews were used to explore the stressors participants experienced during three phases of injury (onset, rehabilitation and return to competitive sport). Within- and cross-case analyses showed that athletes experienced sport, medical/physical, social and financial stressors. There were a number of differences in the stressors experienced across the three phases and between team and individual-sport athletes. Findings have important implications for the design and implementation of interventions aimed at managing the potentially stressful sport injury experience and facilitating injured athletes' return to competitive sport.     

Organisational culture in sport – A systematic review

The purpose of this paper was to systematically review the study of organisational culture in sport. The choice of research paradigms, methods, interests, perspectives, and definitions and operationalisation of organisational culture used in 33 studies was examined. This highlighted the variety of ways that culture has been studied in sport and the range of interests explored in the research, including informing athlete development, the link between the strength of culture and organisational performance and understanding the forces driving organisational diversity. Unlike the wider organisational culture literature, there has been a preference in sport to assume that culture was a variable to manipulate in an organisation. The opportunity to widen approaches to study organisational culture in sport is discussed, such as broadening the methods used to conduct studies, including both coaches and athletes in the population studied and using the fragmentation perspective, where ambiguity and conflict are considered in understanding culture.     

Sports officials’ intention to continue

With governments in many western countries implementing sport policy programmes directed at increasing levels of participation, stress is being placed on the capacity of sport systems to provide sufficient numbers of appropriately accredited officials. However, with declining numbers of officials, particularly early career officials, sport organisations are also facing management problems in relation to the retention of existing officials. Using a quasi-experimental 2 × 2 field-based research design this study explored the efficacy of organisational support aimed at increasing retention of early career sports officials. The research addressed two questions: (1) Do stressors of officiating, commitment and organisational support predict the intention of early career officials to continue officiating? and (2) What is the efficacy of organisational support in increasing the intention of early career officials to continue officiating? The results support previous research that stressors and commitment explain intention to continue. Intention to continue was found to be a stable construct that was not influenced by an organisational support programme. Despite significant zero-order relationships between organisational support and intentions to continue, organisational support explained no additional or unique variance above that explained by commitment and stressors of officiating. The results provide the basis for further research as well as insights for developing organisational support and retention strategies for sports officials.     

Stressors in elite sport: a coach perspective

We examined the varying performance and organizational stressors experienced by coaches who operate with elite athletes. Following interviews with eleven coaches, content analysis of the data revealed coaches to experience comparable numbers of performance and organizational stressors. Performance stressors were divided between their own performance and that of their athletes, while organizational stressors included environmental, leadership, personal, and team factors. The findings provide evidence that coaches experience a variety of stressors that adds weight to the argument that they should be labelled as "performers" in their own right. A variety of future research topics and applied issues are also discussed.     

Organisational stressors,coping, and outcomes in competitive sport

Organisational stressors are associated with positive and negative outcomes in extant literature; however, little is known about which demands predict which outcomes. Extant theory and literature also suggests that coping style may influence an individual’s resilience or vulnerability to stressors and, subsequently, their psychological responses and outcomes. The purpose of this study was, therefore, to examine the main effects of organisational stressors and coping styles on various outcomes (e.g., positive and negative affect, performance satisfaction). Sport performers (n = 414) completed measures of organisational stressors, coping styles, positive and negative affect, and performance satisfaction. Multiple regression analyses revealed positive relationships of both goals and development stressors (duration and intensity) and team and culture stressors (frequency and intensity) on negative affect. Furthermore, problem-focused coping was positively related to positive affect, and emotion-focused coping was positively related to negative affect. This study furthers theoretical knowledge regarding the associations that both organisational stressors (and their dimensions) and coping styles can have with various outcomes, and practical understanding regarding the optimal design of stress management interventions.     

Getting to the heart of the matter: A diary study of swimmers' appraisals of organisational stressors

Abstract We explored sport performers' cognitive appraisals of organisational stressors. The relevant demands and transactional alternatives that athletes experience in relation to the situational properties were identified. Thirteen national standard swimmers completed semi-structured, interval-contingent daily diaries for a 28-day period. A combination of inductive and deductive content analysis was used to organise and analyse the diary entries with a focus on the following areas: organisational stressors, their underlying situational properties, and the swimmers' transactional alternatives. One hundred and thirty-one of the organisational stressors were appraised as threat, 41 as challenge, and 83 as harm/loss. Support was found for the majority of Lazarus and Folkman's (1984) situational properties with the only exception being temporal uncertainty. Imminence was associated with the greatest number of threat appraisals (47), novelty was associated with the greatest number of challenge appraisals (17), and duration was associated with the greatest number of harm/loss appraisals (22). It is concluded that appraisal plays a pivotal role in sport performers' experiences of their organisational environment. Swimmers' transactional alternatives are influenced by the situational properties of the stressors encountered.     

Confirmatory factor analysis of the Sport Emotion Questionnaire in organisational environments

The Sport Emotion Questionnaire (SEQ) (Jones, M. V., Lane, A. M., Bray, S. R., Uphill, M., & Catlin, J. (2005). Development and validation of the SEQ. Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 27, 407–431) was developed and initially validated to assess sport performers’ pre-competitive emotions. The purpose of this study was to test the factor structure of the SEQ in a different environment (viz. organisational) and at a different time point (viz. the past month). A further aim was to examine if the SEQ was invariant across different groups of sport performers. A diverse sample of athletes (n = 1277) completed the questionnaire. Fit indices from confirmatory factor analyses provided partial support for the hypothesised measurement model, with equal or better fit demonstrated than evident in initial validation. The comparative fit index values were above acceptable guidelines for all factors at subscale level. Evidence was also found for the invariance of the SEQ across different groups. Overall, the findings support the reliability and validity of the SEQ as a measure of the emotions experienced by sport performers in an organisational environment during the past month.     

Examining multidimensional sport-confidence in athletes and non-athlete sport performers

Sport-confidence is considered a critical success factor for sport performers at all levels. Researchers have suggested that sport-confidence is a multidimensional rather than a unidimensional construct, and the sport-confidence model identified three types of sport-confidence (i.e., physical skills and training, cognitive efficiency, and resilience) that are important for success in sport. However, such multidimensionality of sport-confidence and its measurement have not been fully examined. On a large sample of sport performers with varied skill levels and characteristics, the purpose of the present study was to examine the three-factor model of sport-confidence. We tested the measurement invariance of the Sport-Confidence Inventory across 512 athletes and 1170 non-athlete sport performers. Results from the multiple group model analysis showed that the three-factor model of sport-confidence fit better for the athlete sample than for the non-athlete sample. The results implicate that the three-factor model of sport-confidence model is suitable to athletes, though sport-confidence may appear more unidimensional for non-athletes. The use of the Sport-Confidence Inventory for non-athlete sport performers demands further consideration; however, the findings implicate that it could be a useful tool to assess sport-confidence of sport performers at any levels.     

Coaching athletes with disability: preconceptions and reality

It is now widely recognized that athletes with disability compete at an elite level which parallels that experienced by non-disabled athletes. The importance of quality coaching to develop an athlete’s full potential is similarly recognized. However, research in the area of coaching athletes with disability is still lacking compared to its counterpart in non-disabled sport. This research explored the holistic experience of coaching elite athletes with disability, and therefore encompassed not only the coaches’ preconceptions, but the rewards and challenges of their coaching experience. Semi-structured interviews were held with 12 coaches of elite athletes from sports including swimming, athletics, cycling, canoeing, triathlon, equestrian sport and wheelchair basketball. The results of the study identified that, although the coaches reported their experience as being overwhelmingly positive, they were also regularly confronted with difficulties not generally faced by coaches of non-disabled athletes.     

Organisational factors and non-accidental violence in sport: A systematic review

The objective of the current systematic review was to investigate the organisational factors that enable and motivate non-accidental violence towards athletes in the sport context. The authors identified and reviewed 43 qualitative studies investigating psychological, physical, and sexual abuse of athletes, and developed a framework of organisational factors (i.e., structural, social, and stress factors) related to non-accidental violence. Athletes were the key informants, yet some studies included athletes’ entourages. The authors independently coded the findings sections of the primary research, using the developed framework. Organisational tolerance for abuse and conformity to dominant values within sports were related to all three types of non-accidental violence. Power imbalance appeared as a relevant factor in both psychological and sexual abuse, while isolation was also relevant in sexual abuse. Believing that non-accidental violence had instrumental effects appeared related to both psychological and physical abuse, whereas a winner-take-all reward system was related to physical abuse. Based on this systematic review, the authors proposed an integrated perspective of the organisational factors driving non-accidental violence in sport and conclude by proposing a whole-of-system approach to the prevention and management of non-accidental violence.     

Managing disability sport: From athletes with disabilities to inclusive organisational perspectives

Disability is a complex multidimensional social construct. In a sporting context, people with a disability often face a multitude of barriers to participation in sport and achievement in sport. While other marginalised populations have received attention in the field of sport management, disability has received very little, or been used primarily as a context. This special issue focuses on “managing disability sport” rather than the medical, human performance or sociocultural issues facing people with disability. The collection of papers herein focus on management issues that centre on constraints to sport participation, supply side attributes, participant behaviours, consumption of disability sport, policy implementation, and sponsor congruence. We situate these papers in the context of further challenging researchers to think beyond disability as a context in their research and engage in the critical discussions necessary to advance the agenda of managing disability sport.