An Introduction to the Sport Commitment Model

Abstract

This article introduces a sport-specific theoretical model of commitment. Sport commitment is defined as a psychological state representing the desire or resolve to continue sport participation. The Sport Commitment Model proposes that sport commitment is determined by sport enjoyment, involvement alternatives, personal investments, social constraints, and involvement opportunities. Greater sport enjoyment, personal investments, social constraints, involvement opportunities, and less attractive involvement alternatives are predicted to lead to higher levels of sport commitment. Constitutive definitions were established for each of the model's components, and questionnaire items were developed. Results from the first empirical test of the model conducted with girls (n = 95) and boys (n = 83) participating in a Little League program showed that the questionnaire items formed reliable scales. Correlational analyses demonstrated that several predictors were related to sport commitment as hypothesized. Stepwise regression findings revealed that sport enjoyment and personal investments were the dominant predictors of commitment for this sample. Together, these two model components accounted for 58% of the sport commitment variance.

Identifying important factors for older adults’ physical activity participation across individual/group, structured/unstructured contexts

“…Within the context of group structured activities, it would be expected that individuals value commitment as participants may feel like they have a social obligation to the group. This finding is consistent with previous research by Scanlan et al (1993) that identified commitment as an important factor related to participation. They also found that commitment to physical activity and enjoyment were intimately related.…”

“…Dacey et al (2008) posited that in older adults, enjoyment is extremely important and is one of the greatest predictors of sustained physical activity as individuals' age. Within the physical activity context, enjoyment can be defined as a positive emotional response to participating in an activity characterized by generalized feelings of pleasure, liking, and fun (Scanlan et al 1993). Yet, the construct of enjoyment runs deeper than simply doing something because it is fun.…”

Examining the dissemination of innovations in the sporting goods industry.

“…In their initial study, Scanlan et al (1993) measured sport commitment with four items. The first item asked "How dedicated are you to playing the sport?"…”

“…Scanlan et al (1993) said "sport commitment is defined as a psychological construct representing the desire and resolve to continue sport participation" (p. 6) and introduced the Sport Commitment Model (SCM) to measure sport commitment to a sports program, a particular sport, or sport in general. Items measuring sport commitment included "How dedicated are you to playing this sport?"…”

“…Scanlan et al (1993) introduced the Sport Commitment Model (SCM) to measure commitment to sports programs, a specific sport, and sport in general. The survey instrument contained nineteen items in total.…”