Psychological contract, leadership, and job satisfaction: an empirical investigation into the non-profit sports sector

ABSTRACT

Drawing upon leadership behaviour differentials, psychological contract, and level of satisfaction, the experiential practices of non-profit sports leadership illustrate how the application of particular leadership behaviours can lead to positive or negative outcomes. The paper investigates the direct and indirect effects of psychological contract on job satisfaction. A quantitative methods approach was used to gather the data. One thousand and twenty-two surveys were completed from non-profit sports organizations. Servant leadership fully mediated the relationship between psychological contract and job satisfaction, while leader-member exchange (LMX) partially mediated this relationship. In addition, psychological contract was positively related to job satisfaction in the non-profit sports sector. No research has addressed the direct and indirect relationships between psychological contract and job satisfactions, using leadership behaviours as mediators in the non-profit sports sector. Practical implications of the findings are discussed, together with limitations and ideas for future research.

KEYWORDS:

• Leadership
• psychological contract
• job satisfaction
• non-profit sector
• sport

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No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Majd Megheirkouni

Majd Megheirkouni is a visiting lecturer. His research interests include sport leadership, leadership development across non-profit, for-profit and public sport sectors, and effective leadership for sport mega events, particularly Olympic Games and FIFA World Cup. He has been involved in sport for more than 30 years as a boxing champion, a student and then an academic in sport management and business, besides being a sport leadership consultant.