Sports participation: An organizational perspective

This research investigates the relationship between sports participation and managerial competencies and gender-role orientation. Managerial competencies studied include achievement orientation, initiative, impact and influence, directiveness, developing others, team orientation, self-confidence, conceptual thinking, analytical thinking, self-esteem, locus of control, and self-monitoring. The paper also assesses existing research on sports participation, managerial competencies, and gender-role orientation. Hypotheses were formulated regarding the existence of a relationship between individuals\u27 participation in competitive, organized sports and their levels of managerial competencies and their gender-role orientations. Data from questionnaires administered to students at two New England colleges were used to test the hypotheses, utilizing correlation analysis, simple regression analysis, and analysis of variance. All hypothesized relationships were found to be statistically significant below a probability level of .001. Overall, a higher level of sports participation was positively correlated to higher levels of all managerial competencies studied. Gender-role orientation was found to differ depending on the level of sports participation