Determining Private Youth Sport Coaches’ Wage Expectations for Tournament Attendance: A Market-Based Solution to Incentivize Tournament Attendance in Coaches of Individual Sports

Abstract

Incentive structures within the market-driven private youth tennis and athlete development system often fail to deliver optimal sport at the micro-level. Yet, remedying deficient incentive structures within the private youth sports setting has received little empirical inquiry. In examining an established deficiency in private youth tennis delivery deriving from macro-level incentive structures, the authors investigated the wage expectations, and determinants of wage expectations for private youth tennis coaches’ tournament attendance. Guided by human capital theory, rational choice theory, and the wage expectations literature, 111 private youth tennis coaches completed an online survey. Results found most coaches expect a wage comparable to an hour-long coaching session, with coaches’ expectations affected by years of experience, prior playing accomplishments, form of compensation, role responsibilities, and race. Findings do suggest a micro-level remedy for a deficient incentive structure can enhance tennis delivery and demonstrate the viability of a parent-financed coach tournament attendance service.

Keywords:

• Youth sport
• coaching
• wage expectations
• human capital theory
• rational choice theory

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Edward Horne

Edward Horne (Ph.D., The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, U.S.) is an Assistant Professor of Sport Administration at the University of New Mexico. His research interests center on Sport Development. Specifically, he studies the incentive structures within the private youth sport system, and how the system shapes the behaviors and experiences of athletes, coaches, and parents. His work has appeared in journals such as European Sport Management Quarterly, Managing Sport and Leisure, and Sport Management Review.

Luke Mao

Luke L. Mao (Ph.D., University of Florida, U.S.) is an Associate Professor of Sport Administration at the University of New Mexico. His primary academic interests are sports marketing and sports consumer behavior, with a focus on quantitative and computational methods to examine the impacts of consumer resources and marketing mix variables on sport-related consumption and sport firms’ performance. His research also includes customer experience in sports settings, the use of artificial intelligence and data analytics to enhance engagement, and the impact of technology on the sports industry. He has published articles on service quality, branding, event marketing, sports gambling, and sporting goods retailing in journals such as Sport Management Review, European Sport Management Quarterly, and International Journal of Sports Marketing and Sponsorship. He has authored over thirty peer-reviewed articles and book chapters.