Female Officials in Europe and their Sport’s Diversity Climate

George Cunningham; Tom Webb; Pamela Wicker

doi:10.1080/16184742.2024.2391843

Female Officials in Europe and their Sport’s Diversity Climate

George Cunningham
, Tom Webb
, Pamela Wicker

University of Florida
University of Bielefeld

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

3 Citations (Scopus)

47 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Research Question: Drawing from Cox’s (1994) Interactional Model of Cultural Diversity, the purpose of this study was to examine how individual-, interpersonal-, and sport-level factors related to female officials’ perceptions of their sport’s diversity climate.

Research Methods: The authors draw on data from a comprehensive, European-based survey of female officials in various sports. Respondents reported about their officiating biography, characteristics of their main sport, and individual characteristics (n=3,214). Information about a sport’s level of subjectivity and contact with athletes was added to the data. Diversity climate was assessed using the mean of a 12-item scale.

Results and Findings: The results of regression analyses show that years officiating, officiating with more male than female officials, and education all held negative associations with the sport’s diversity climate. On the other hand, the presence of a mentor was positively associated with diversity climate.

Implications: Collectively, the findings suggest that different factors shape female officials’ perceptions of the diversity climate in their sport. Sport organizations need to be aware of these factors and develop measures to improve the diversity climate for female officials and ultimately foster their retention in the sport.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	409-430
Number of pages	22
Journal	European Sport Management Quarterly
Volume	25
Issue number	3
Early online date	22 Aug 2024
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1080/16184742.2024.2391843
Publication status	Published - 17 May 2025

Bibliographical note

© 2024 European Association for Sport Management
This is an Author Accepted Manuscript (AAM) of an article published by Taylor & Francis in European Sport Management Quarterly on 28/08/22, available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/16184742.2024.2391843

This AAM is deposited in accordance with Taylor & Francis’ guidance on sharing accepted manuscripts, which permits posting to institutional repositories provided that the publisher required acknowledgement is included and any applicable embargo period is respected.

Funder

This work was supported by Erasmus+ Sport [grant number 623017-EPP-1-2020-FR-SPO-SCP].

Funding

This work was supported by Erasmus+ Sport [grant number 623017-EPP-1-2020-FR-SPO-SCP].

Funders	Funder number
European Commission Erasmus+	[grant number 623017-EPP-1-2020-FR-SPO-SCP].

Keywords

DEI
mentor
referee
gender
women

Access to Document

10.1080/16184742.2024.2391843

Webb2024AAMAccepted author manuscript, 485 KB

Cite this

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title = "Female Officials in Europe and their Sport{\textquoteright}s Diversity Climate",

abstract = "Research Question: Drawing from Cox{\textquoteright}s (1994) Interactional Model of Cultural Diversity, the purpose of this study was to examine how individual-, interpersonal-, and sport-level factors related to female officials{\textquoteright} perceptions of their sport{\textquoteright}s diversity climate. Research Methods: The authors draw on data from a comprehensive, European-based survey of female officials in various sports. Respondents reported about their officiating biography, characteristics of their main sport, and individual characteristics (n=3,214). Information about a sport{\textquoteright}s level of subjectivity and contact with athletes was added to the data. Diversity climate was assessed using the mean of a 12-item scale. Results and Findings: The results of regression analyses show that years officiating, officiating with more male than female officials, and education all held negative associations with the sport{\textquoteright}s diversity climate. On the other hand, the presence of a mentor was positively associated with diversity climate. Implications: Collectively, the findings suggest that different factors shape female officials{\textquoteright} perceptions of the diversity climate in their sport. Sport organizations need to be aware of these factors and develop measures to improve the diversity climate for female officials and ultimately foster their retention in the sport. ",

keywords = "DEI, mentor, referee, gender, women",

author = "George Cunningham and Tom Webb and Pamela Wicker",

note = "{\textcopyright} 2024 European Association for Sport Management This is an Author Accepted Manuscript (AAM) of an article published by Taylor \& Francis in European Sport Management Quarterly on 28/08/22, available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/16184742.2024.2391843 This AAM is deposited in accordance with Taylor \& Francis{\textquoteright} guidance on sharing accepted manuscripts, which permits posting to institutional repositories provided that the publisher required acknowledgement is included and any applicable embargo period is respected. ",

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N2 - Research Question: Drawing from Cox’s (1994) Interactional Model of Cultural Diversity, the purpose of this study was to examine how individual-, interpersonal-, and sport-level factors related to female officials’ perceptions of their sport’s diversity climate. Research Methods: The authors draw on data from a comprehensive, European-based survey of female officials in various sports. Respondents reported about their officiating biography, characteristics of their main sport, and individual characteristics (n=3,214). Information about a sport’s level of subjectivity and contact with athletes was added to the data. Diversity climate was assessed using the mean of a 12-item scale. Results and Findings: The results of regression analyses show that years officiating, officiating with more male than female officials, and education all held negative associations with the sport’s diversity climate. On the other hand, the presence of a mentor was positively associated with diversity climate. Implications: Collectively, the findings suggest that different factors shape female officials’ perceptions of the diversity climate in their sport. Sport organizations need to be aware of these factors and develop measures to improve the diversity climate for female officials and ultimately foster their retention in the sport.

AB - Research Question: Drawing from Cox’s (1994) Interactional Model of Cultural Diversity, the purpose of this study was to examine how individual-, interpersonal-, and sport-level factors related to female officials’ perceptions of their sport’s diversity climate. Research Methods: The authors draw on data from a comprehensive, European-based survey of female officials in various sports. Respondents reported about their officiating biography, characteristics of their main sport, and individual characteristics (n=3,214). Information about a sport’s level of subjectivity and contact with athletes was added to the data. Diversity climate was assessed using the mean of a 12-item scale. Results and Findings: The results of regression analyses show that years officiating, officiating with more male than female officials, and education all held negative associations with the sport’s diversity climate. On the other hand, the presence of a mentor was positively associated with diversity climate. Implications: Collectively, the findings suggest that different factors shape female officials’ perceptions of the diversity climate in their sport. Sport organizations need to be aware of these factors and develop measures to improve the diversity climate for female officials and ultimately foster their retention in the sport.

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Female Officials in Europe and their Sport’s Diversity Climate

Abstract

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Keywords

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