The role of mindfulness and occupational stress in the goal orientations of development and winning

Highlights

•	This study introduces the topic of mindfulness in sport management literature.
•	This study identifies factors associated with the two athletic goals of winning and development.
•	Mindfulness is positively associated with development goal orientation.
•	Mindfulness is negatively associated with perceived stress.
•	Perceived stress is positively associated with winning goal orientation.

Abstract

Emphasis on winning in youth sport, fueled by media, parents, coaches, as well as communities, has become a key concern for positive youth development in sport. By integrating the topic of mindfulness into organizational behavior in sport management, the author investigated how sport leaders in youth sports focused or refocused on the two athletic goals of development and winning in their stressful working conditions. Data were collected through an online survey completed by 478 sport managers across the United States. The results indicated that mindfulness was negatively associated with perceived stress and positively associated with development goal orientation. Additionally, perceived stress was positively associated with winning goal orientation and fully mediated the relationship between mindfulness and winning goal orientation. The findings of this research highlight the importance of mindfulness and perceived stress in the sport managers’ pursuit of two different goals in youth sport.

Keywords:

• Athletic goal
• Interscholastic sport
• Positive youth development
• Sport leadership
• Workplace mindfulness

Acknowledgments

This study was supported by the Ministry of Education of Republic of Korea, the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF-2017S1A5B8067020), and Hankuk University of Foreign Studies Research Fund (of 2019). I sincerely thank the associate editor and the two anonymous reviewers whose comments/inputs helped improve the quality of this manuscript.