A Sociological Analysis of the Performance and Subjective Well-being of Elite Sports Players in China

Abstract

We were inspired by the market transition theory to investigate the relationship between elite sports players’ performance, subjective well-being and demographic characteristics with the lens of Weberian concept of instrumental rationality (zweckrational). This cross-sectional study was recruited 144 (Mage = 18.96, sd = 3.129) professional athletes in gymnastics, combat sports (including boxing, taekwondo, weightlifting, judo and wrestling), soccer, swimming and wushu (Chinese martial arts), in a government-operated sports institution in China. A hierarchical regression analysis was implemented to observe the relationship between the following variables, the subjective well-being, instrumental factors and other demographic factors, including gender, age, educational level, number of years on professional team and injury record. The results show that the bonus incentive system is the most important predictor of the athletes’ performance. We argue that under the context of China’s market transition, the lens of instrumental rationality can shed light on how the means-end calculations of elite athletes affect their sports performance.