Grounded upon the conservation of resources theory, this study sought to examine the relationships between the three emotional labor strategies, teacher burnout, and turnover intention among physical education teachers. A total of 613 high-school physical education teachers from 47 states across the United States completed online questionnaires that measured the proposed variables. The goodness-of-fit statistics indicated that the structural model showed a reasonable fit, χ²(605) = 1391.26 = 2.30, p < 0.01; RMSEA = .05; TLI = .93; CFI = .93. The results also revealed that teacher burnout was positively associated with surface acting and negatively associated with genuine expression. Further, teacher burnout was positively associated with turnover intention. Mediation analysis showed that teacher burnout fully mediated the trajectory from emotional labor strategies to turnover intention. The results highlight the impact of emotional labor on physical education teachers’ well-being and intention to leave the teaching profession.

Research Question(s): Emotions play a critical role in the leadership process. Relatively little is known about the management of emotions and its impact on individual well-being within the realm of sport leadership. To fill this void, this study examined the relationships between emotional intelligence, the three forms of emotional labor, coach burnout, job satisfaction, and turnover intentions among high school athletic coaches. Research Methods: Three hundred twenty-two high school coaches in the United States completed the online questionnaires measuring the proposed variables. Confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling were employed to test the proposed hypotheses. Results and Findings: Emotional intelligence was significantly associated with all three forms of emotional labor in different directions. Additionally, surface acting was positively associated with coach burnout and negatively associated with job satisfaction. Deep acting and genuine expression were negatively associated with coach burnout and positively associated with job satisfaction. Finally, turnover intention was positively associated with coach burnout and negatively associated with job satisfaction. Implications: Practically, coaches should use deep acting and genuine expressions and avoid surface acting for the benefit of both coaches and organizations. The results also showed the significant role of emotional intelligence on the health-detrimental strategy of surface acting and the health-beneficial strategy of deep acting and genuine expression.

This study investigated the relationship among affectivity, emotional labor strategies, and emotional exhaustion, and the moderating effect of emotional intelligence in that relationship. There were 430 NCAA Division I coaches who completed questionnaires measuring affectivity, the forms of emotional labor, emotional exhaustion, and emotional intelligence, which were modified to fit the coaching context. The result indicated that positive affectivity predicted 3 forms of emotional labor. In addition, coaches’ surface acting and genuine expression significantly predicted their emotional exhaustion. Furthermore, emotional intelligence moderated the relationship between surface acting and emotional exhaustion. These results reveal the important role of emotional labor on coaches’ well-being.

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between transformational leadership style, affective commitment, and organizational citizenship behavior in the athletic director–coach relationship. This study particularly focused on the mediating effect of affective commitment on the relationship between transformational leadership and organizational citizenship behavior. Athletic head coaches in NCAA Division II programs (N = 244) completed the questionnaires measuring perceptions of the transformational leadership style of their athletic directors, their affective commitment, and organizational citizenship behavior. The results revealed that perceived transformational leadership was positively associated with affective commitment, which, in turn, was positively associated with organizational citizenship behaviors. Further, the result of this study supported full mediation among the proposed variables in that affective commitment served as the underlying psychological mechanism in the relationship between transformational leadership and organizational citizenship behaviors. Implications for athletic departments in fostering head coaches’ affective commitment and organizational citizenship behavior were discussed.

Developing subjective well-being among educational leaders is beneficial for both leaders themselves and students. Evidence has suggested that emotional intelligence has implications for the mental and physical well-being of individuals in leadership positions. This relationship has not, however, been extensively investigated among school administrators, particularly athletic directors, who can influence the lives of student-athletes. Thus, this study sought to examine the relationships among emotional intelligence, job satisfaction, emotional exhaustion, and subjective well-being in high school athletic directors. Participants included 394 U.S. high school athletic directors who completed questionnaires relating to emotional intelligence, job satisfaction, emotional exhaustion, and subjective well-being. The results revealed positive associations between emotional intelligence and subjective well-being and also demonstrated that both job satisfaction and emotional exhaustion mediated the emotional intelligence-subjective well-being relationship. The results highlight the role of emotional intelligence in athletic directors’ subjective well-being and suggest that athletic directors should take measures to increase their emotional intelligence through professional learning opportunities and school support structures.

Highlights Abstract Scholars and policy makers have long considered sport as a vehicle for promoting young athletes’ well-being, educational experience, and citizenship skills. Athletic directors can play a significant role in this process by establishing organizational goals that can foster the development of young athletes and also by ensuring that other personnel abide by these goals. However, little is known about methods athletic directors can use to focus on such development goals in the midst of the current winning-at-all-costs culture surrounding sports. Thus, the purpose of this study is to examine the relationships between emotional intelligence, servant leadership, and development goal orientation among high school athletic directors. A total of 445 athletic directors located in 48 states in the United States completed an online survey. The results indicated that emotional intelligence is positively associated with servant leadership, which in turn is positively associated with development goal orientation. The mediation analysis also revealed that servant leadership fully mediates the relationship between emotional intelligence and development goal orientation among athletic directors. The findings of this research assist in understanding how sports governing bodies can educate athletic directors to initiate development-oriented reform of the winning-at-all-costs culture in sports.