Perceived Support and Women's Intentions to Stay at a Sport Organization

Abstract

Women remain underrepresented in upper management within sport organizations and more broadly. This research examines organizational factors that may affect women's (and men's) likelihood of remaining with their sport organization, which would presumably affect their willingness and ability to step into leadership roles. The research examines the effects of equity human resource management practices, top management support for gender equity and gender-related barriers on organizational commitment and intent to stay with their sport organization, as well as whether changes in perceived organizational support would mediate the relationships. Results from a survey of current employees in Australian sport organizations generally support the hypotheses. Perceived top management support for gender equity is a strong and consistent predictor of outcomes, and the effect is mediated by perceived organizational support. Implications for top management's role in implementing gender equity practices are discussed.

Women Occupying Management Positions in Top-Level Sport Organizations: A Self-Determination Perspective

“…This idea was also a concern shared by our participants. It seems that in some cases, gender quota systems and political measures are the only way for women to participate in the boards of directors of sport organizations, however, many authors conclude that these conditions do not seem to be sufficient (Adriaanse & Schofield, 2014;Sibson, 2010;Spoor & Hoye, 2014) and this is also found in our results. Women occupying top-level sport management positions need to feel useful in their roles, which require that managers need to be allowed to lead projects in order to show they are able to do it, to get positive feedback when they achieve a goal valued for the organization, and to receive advice regarding their functions, at least in the beginning.…”

“…Both motivations and contextual factors can lead to negative or positive effects on turnover intentions (Richer, Blanchard & Vallerand, 2002). Thus, applied to sport management, women intentions to stay or not at the sport organization will affect gender equity in sport management positions (Spoor & Hoye, 2014), and also in the benefits of the sport organizations (Wicker et al, 2012).…”

“…For example, Claringbould and Knoppers (2007) showed how men were able to control boards by negating affirmative action policies and to reproduce the male-dominated culture in those boards through the recruitment and selection processes. On the other hand, Spoor and Hoye (2014) found that top management support to gender equity practices was relevant to encourage women to pursue a leadership position in sport organizations. Although in the last years many initiatives have been implemented (e,g., European Parliament resolution about women and sport; European Parliament, 2003) and specific organisations have been created (e.g, International Working Group and the European Women and Sport Commission in 1993), women still play a little role inside sport agencies, specially as we ascend in the decision making process to top-level management positions.…”

Barriers to women’s access to decision-making positions in sport organizations: the case of establishing a girls’ volleyball academy in Israel

“…Women remain under-represented in sport organizations (Spoor and Hoye, 2014). Male culture is an often-cited reason for the relative lack of female senior managers.…”

Claiming the corner office: Female CEO careers and implications for leadership development

“…Implementation requires regular assessment to ensure follow-through, but many companies fail to do so (e.g., Tharenou, 2010). HR interventions may be as simple as establishing family-friendly time management, such as flex-time block schedules (Steier, 2013); encouraging management skills utilization, which women see as signal of a supportive work environment (Chen, Takeuchi, & Wakabayashi, 2005); or rolling out HR practices that promote equity and increase employee commitment as well as retention (Spoor & Hoye, 2014).…”