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RESEARCH PRODUCT

Vertaileva tutkimus nais- ja miesjohtajien uramenestyksestä liikunta-alalla

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The purpose of this study is to describe and compare upper-level sport managers’ career success, career success variables and the associations between them. The perspective of gender equality is used. Three indicators of objective and subjective career success are used: pay (objective), career success satisfaction, and the balance between work and family/private life (subjective). The specific variables are divided into five different categories: sociodemographic, human capital, social support, organisational, and sports specific. The data (n=329) for this quantitative cross- sectional study were collected by means of an internet questionnaire sent out to public and non-governmental sports organisations in Finland. The results of this study revealed that objective career success is to a large extent determined by different variables than subjective career success. The sociodemographic and human capital variables were important determinants of pay, but they did not have the same significance for career success satisfaction and work-family/private life balance. The results showed differences between women and men sport managers’ career success, career success variables and the associations between them. On average, women sport managers were paid less than men sport managers. It is worth noting that the pay gap between men and women sport managers remained significant even when the controlled variables, such as age, education, working hours, the number of subordinates and the working sector, explained some percentage of the gap. Women sport managers were less satisfied with their career success than men sport managers. There was no difference in work-family/private life balance between the men and women. Women sport managers were on average more highly educated than men sport managers. Men were more often married and had more children than the women. Typically, women sport managers did more housework and had more career breaks compared to their male counterparts. Higher pay was associated with higher education, more working hours and working in the non-governmental sector for both genders. However, for male sport managers they were stronger predictors of higher pay than they were for women. For men, higher pay was also associated with higher networking activity, but this association was not found for women. This study indicates that managers’ career success in sports organisations in Finland is not equal in every sense. To succeed in a management career in sport demands more effort from women than from men. It would be beneficial from the individual, the organisational and the societal point of view if women’s and men’s success in a career in sport management was more equal in the future.