Gender Differences in Athletic and Academic Cultures on a University Campus

Abstract

Abstract: In order to explore the differences between a student’s academic life and a scholar-athlete’s sports life, we investigated the organizational cultures of a university’s academic departments and sports teams by surveying 259 students and 230 student-athletes. We found the academic cultures to be more clannish (family oriented) and the sports cultures more market (performance and results) driven. For the female athletes, we found a negative relationship between clan culture and satisfaction with their sports team, while for everyone else (male and female students and male athletes) clan culture was positively related to satisfaction with academic department or sports team. Relatedly, for the female athletes, the relationship between market culture and satisfaction with their sports team was positive, while for everyone else (male and female students and male athletes) market culture was negatively related to satisfaction with academic department or sports team. This suggests that there are important differences between the experiences of male and female student-athletes. We also found the participants in the business school to be less clannish than those in the other schools and colleges. We discuss the practical implications of these results for coaches of male and female athletes and for campus leaders of academic departments.