Changes in Attitudes of Professional Athletes Toward Hometowns

Abstract

This study aimed to explore the longitudinal change in the sense of community responsibility (SOC-R) of players belonging to professional sports teams toward their hometowns and other related variables, and to build a new SOC-R model considering the passage of time. At the beginning and end of the season, data were collected from independent professional Japanese baseball team players. The longitudinal factor analysis demonstrated that each scale, from hometown engagement (maintaining relationships and being a role model), a personal belief system during team activities (passion, pride), to hometown SOC-R, was invariant. Moreover, it showed that factor mean of "maintaining relationships" and "obsessive passion" had decreased. Furthermore, the validity of the new SOC-R model considering the passage of time, which has not been clarified in the conventional SOC-R model, was confirmed. We found a partial relationship in which hometown engagement, mediated by personal belief systems, influenced SOC-R.