The Relationship Between Servant Leadership of Division I Athletic Directors, BasicWork-Related Psychological Need Satisfaction, and the Overall Job Satisfaction ofDivision I Athletic Department Employees

Abstract

While recent high-profile cases of scandal in intercollegiate athletics have led administrators, the public, government officials, and scholars to call for reform, impropriety in intercollegiate athletics dates back to the earliest days of organized college sports. A scholarly voice for change has suggested an examination of leadership practices and styles, in particular, servant leadership in intercollegiate athletics administrators (Burton & Peachey, 2014). The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between the observed servant leadership behaviors of Division I athletic directors, as reported by Division I athletic department employees, and the relationship with the self-reported work-related basic psychological need satisfaction, and overall job satisfaction of athletic department employees.Using an online survey (n = 231) of randomly selected athletic department employees at 35 Division I institutions, the results of this study revealed a statistically significant positive relationship exists (p < .001) with observed servant leadership characteristics in athletic directors and the employees' needs of autonomy, competence, and relatedness. The results also showed a statistically significant positive relationship(p < .001) between observed servant leadership in athletic directors and employee's overall job satisfaction. The results of this study affirmed that servant leadership in athletic directors were associated with greater work-related basic psychological needs satisfaction and stronger overall job satisfaction of athletic department employees. This study supports the use of servant leadership to better support the work-related need satisfaction and overall job satisfaction of athletic department employees.