A Classification of Facets of Athlete Satisfaction

Abstract

Although several authors have emphasized the need to treat the athlete as the prime beneficiary of intercollegiate athletics, there has been little effort to assess athlete reactions to their experiences. This paper stresses the uniqueness of athletic teams, develops a rationale for measuring athlete satisfaction, and emphasizes that athlete satisfaction can be used as a measure of organizational effectiveness. A classification of the various facets of satisfaction in athletics is presented. A facet is classified by the following criteria: whether it (a) is task- or social-related, (b) is an outcome or a process, and (c) affects the individual or the team. The extent to which the identified facets of satisfaction are exhaustive, exclusive, and internally homogeneous is discussed.