Examination of relationships between communication satisfaction and organizational identification of sport science students

Abstract The aim of this study is to examine the predictor relationships between the satisfaction sport science students obtain from communication with lecturers and their organizational identification. Moreover, the study aims to determine whether there is a difference in both dependent variables in terms of gender, grade, whether they like their educational department, desire to change their department, establishment of out-of-class communication with lecturers, and being in active communication with lecturers in class. In this study, quantitative correlational techniques are used. Our sample comprised 252 (x¯ age = 21.39 ± 2.16) sport science students (127 female; 125 male). The “Student Communication Satisfaction Scale” developed by Goodboy, Martin, and Bolkan (2009) and adapted to Turkish by Akın, Yalnız, and Kazaz (2015) was used as a data collection tool, as was the “Organizational Identification Scale” developed by Mael and Ashforth (1992) and adapted to Turkish by Tak and Aydemir (2004). Parametric data was analyzed using Pearson correlation analysis, simple linear regression analysis, 2 × 2 MANOVA, and two-way ANOVA. Nonparametric data was analyzed using the Kruskal-Wallis H statistical test technique. The results indicate a strong and positively oriented relationship between the communication satisfaction and organizational identification of sport science students. Moreover, it is seen that communication satisfaction is a crucial predictor of organizational identification. According to our data, females’ communication satisfaction and identification levels are much higher than those of males. Students’ like or dislike of the department where they receive an education and the quality and form of communication they have established with lecturers result in significant differences in both dependent variables.