A Critical Analysis of The Issues Women Face in Male Dominated Sports in Pennsylvania

Running head: FEMALE SPORTS OFFICIALS: A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF THE ISSUES
WOMEN FACE IN MALE DOMINATED SPORTS IN PENNSYLVANIA
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FEMALE SPORTS OFFICIALS: A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF THE ISSUES WOMEN
FACE IN MALE DOMINATED SPORTS IN PENNSYLVANIA

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by
Jean K. Bley
A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF ROBERT MORRIS

UNIVERSITY IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE
DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY WITH A MAJOR IN INSTRUCTIONAL
MANAGEMENT AND LEADERSHIP.
Correspondence concerning this dissertation should be addressed to jkbst251@mail.rmu.edu
March 2020
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Copyright 2020 Jean K. Bley

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Acknowledgements
First, I would like to thank my family and relatives in the United States, France and
Cote D‘Ivoire for their support during the completion of my dissertation. My wife Kelly
Lewis Bley, my daughters Olivia Ama Lewis Bley, Nicole ―Coco‖ Alexis Coffy Bley,
Camille Christine Kouassi Bley, my sons Troy Walker Konan Bley and Collin Roger
Kouao Bley for their love, admiration, and support. I am very appreciative of their
patience, encouragement and enthusiasm. A special gratitude and thank you to all the
women who participated in this research study – This research would have not been possible
without you – Thank You for your contribution –
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Second, I sincerely want to thank my chairperson, Dr. James Bernauer, aka ―Dr. B‖
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who has helped me tremendously in every aspect of my research. I am very grateful for
everything he has done for me including answering all my questions regardless of the day or
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time (Dr. B., Sorry for all of my SMS). Third, I would like to thank Dr. Lawrence Tomei and
Dr. George Semich (members of my doctorate advisory committee) for their subject matter
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expertise and continuous assistance during the research study. They provided me with their
insights, expertise and valuable feedback and advices. I would like to acknowledge and
thank my friends for their assistance, help and support: Dr. John Alverson (Carlow
University), Dr. Patricia Grey (Educator), Dr. Joel Swanson, MD and Maria Swanson, Sean
Hamill (News Reporter), Dr. David Madigan (Data Science Institute, Columbia University),
Dr. Sandra Serafini (NASO), Bill Topp (COO, Referee.com), Andy Homa (NASO), Christine
Kraft (MedReviews Solutions), Paul Lehman (Westtown School), Mark Thomas (Penn
Fusion Soccer Academy), Dr. Vannara Sakbun, MD,Ph.D and Carlene Sakbun.
Finally, I dedicate this dissertation to my deceased parents: Bley Kouassi Edouard
and Coffi Ama Marie. Their admirable values, enthusiasm for continuous learning and
hard work ethics have been driving forces in my life.
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Table of Contents
I. CHAPTER ONE .................................................................................................................. 1
Introduction/Background................................................................................................... 1
Theoretical Framework ...................................................................................................... 4
Self-Efficacy and Refficacy Theory.................................................................................. 4
Sport Commitment Model (SCM) – Sport Commitment Questionnaire- (SCQ- 2).......... 7
Statement of the Problem..................................................................................................10
Purpose of the Study.......................................................................................................... 11
First Source of Data………………................................................................................. 11
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Second Source of Data……………..................................................................................11
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Research Questions ............................................................................................................13
Significance of the Research Study..................................................................................14

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Limitations and Delimitations...........................................................................................15
Definition of Terms ............................................................................................................16

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Chapter One Summary......................................................................................................18
II. REVIEW OF THE L ITERATURE ..................................................................................... 19
Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 19
Evolution of Organized Sports in the United States....................................................... 19
1972 – Title IX becomes Law in the United States......................................................... 21
Organized Sports Laws, Regulations and Rules................................................................ 27
The Olympic Movement: From 1894 to Present............................................................. 32
Olympic Movement Code On The Prevention Of The Manipulation Of Competition... 33
Self-Efficacy and Refficacy Theory.………………......................................................... 34
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Dimensions of Refficacy for Officiating Success.…........................................................37
Referee Self-Efficacy Scale.…………………….............................................................41
Sport Commitment Model and Sport Commitment Questionnaire................................. 45
Sports Officials Types and Motivation.…………...…......................................................48
Interactors……………………………………….............................................................48
Monitors…………………..……………………..............................................................48
Reactors…………………...…………………….............................................................49
Motivation………………………………………............................................................49
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Chapter Two Summary. ...................................................................................................53
III. METHODOLOGY………………………................................................................................56
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Introduction .......................................................................................................................56
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Mixed Method Design Research…………......................................................................57
Purpose of the Study and Research Questions ...............................................................57
Participant Selection and Confidentiality Waiver…......................................................60

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Theoretical Framework: Self-Efficacy and Refficacy Theory....................................... 61
First Source of Data - Thematic Analysis….....................................................................64
NASO Survey Data and Results Analysis…....................................................................64
Second Source of Data – Interview Questions..................................................................65
Interview Questions…..……………………....................................................................65
Participant Recruitment Process……..............................................................................66
Participant Eligibility Criteria…….............................................................................. 68
Data Collection…………………..……..............................................................................68
Interview Protocol…………...…….............................................................................. 69
Peer Review….……………...…….............................................................................. 70
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Interview Questions.……………..……..............................................................................71
Interview Procedure / Semi-Structured Interviews Session............................................72
Data Analysis………...…………...…….............................................................................74
Chapter Three Summary................................................................................................... 75
IV. CHAPTER F OUR ............................................................................................................ 76
Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 76
Data Analysis Process ........................................................................................................ 77
Phase 1: NASO Survey Results Analysis – Perspectives of the Female Officials from
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Pennsylvania…………………………………................................................................ 78
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Phase 2: Analysis of the Interview Questions................................................................. 92
Phase 3: Analysis of the Participants Eligibility Criteria……………….......................96

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Phase 4: Review and Analysis of the 12 female Participants Responses........................100
Categorization and Demographic Information of the 12 female participants.............100
Geographical Location of the 12 female participants.................................................100

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Age and Generation grouping of the 12 female participants .......................................... 101
Relationship Status of the 12 female participants ……................................................ 102
Education Level of the 12 female participants ………................................................ 102
Officiating Credentials of the 12 female participants …….….………………….....104
Hobbies and Interests of the 12 female participants ……............................................... 105
Research Questions Data Anslysis…………...................................................................107
RQ1- Summary and Data Analysis…..…………………...............................................107
RQ2- Summary and Data Analysis…..…………………...............................................108
RQ3- Summary of Data Analysis...…..…………………...............................................112
RQ4- Summary of Data Analysis……..…………………..............................................115
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Chapter Four Summary....................................................................................................119
V. Chapter Five - DISCUSSION…......................................................................................121
Introduction .......................................................................................................................121
Statement of the Problem..................................................................................................121
Research Questions ...........................................................................................................122
Review of Methodology.....................................................................................................123
Limitations and Delimitations..........................................................................................123
Review of the Findings......................................................................................................124
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RQ1 findings....................................................................................................................124
RQ2 findings………….........................................................................................................125
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RQ3 Summary and Analysis............................................................................................128
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RQ4 Summary and Analysis............................................................................................129
Recommendations .................................................................................................130
Recommendations for Future Research..........................................................................133

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Chapter Five - Summary of Research Study..................................................................134
References ..........................................................................................................................136
Appendix A - Interview Questions….......................................................................................150
Appendix B - NASO Research Information Statement…..................................................154
Appendix C - NASO Data User Agreement Approval.…..................................................167
Appendix D- International Olympic Committee Approval Olympic Movement...............169
Appendix E – Dr. Scanlan Permission Approval…………...............................................170
Appendix F – Institutional Review Board Approval…................................................... 171
Appendix G – Sample of the IRB Informed Consent Form............................................ 172
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Table 1 - Summary of the relationship among the four research questions‘ data collection
method and analysis.…...........................................................................................14
Table 2 - Outline of Guillén and Feltz‘s six (6) dimensions for officiating success............42
Table 3 - Statistical synopsis of the gender allocation of the participants to the 2017
NASO national survey vs. the participants from Pennsylvania……………..........79
Table 4 - Summary of the data and analytics of the 28 female officials from Pennsylvania
who participated in the 2017 NASO Survey……………………………..............82
Table 5 - Summary of the opinions and views of the 28 female officials from Pennsylvania
officials who participated in the 2017 NASO Survey…........................................90
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Table 6 - Summary of the Interview and Research Question Heat map in relation with the
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12 female Research Participant‘ Engagement...............................................94
Table 7 - Matrix of the 12 female Participants Eligibility Criteria and Interview Records
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Duration…………………………………………………………………………..99
Table 8- Geographical Distribution of the 12 female research participants‘ location of

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residence across Pennsylvania.……………....................................................101
Table 9 - Summary of the age and generational grouping, relationship status, education
level distribution of the 12 female research participants……..............................103
Table 10 - Summary of the key indicators supporting the 12 female research participants‘
officiating Credentials…………………………………………………………..104
Table 11 - Summary of the interests and hobbies for the 12 female research
participants……………………………………………………………………..105
Table 12 – Summary of the 12 female research participants‘ key challenges and self-
identified key resiliency attributes................................ .....................................112
Table 13 - Summary of the 12 female research participants‘ key recommendations for
attracting and retaining more female officials.....................................................116
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Table 14 - Summary of the research study recommendations based on Guillén and Feltz
six dimensions for officiating success……….……….......................................129
Figure 1 - Vision, values, missions and working principles of the Olympic Movement.......32
Figure 2 - Model Used for the development of the SCQ-2..................................................47
Figure 3 - Picture of the three (3) U.S. soccer referees selected to officiate at 2019 FIFA
Women Word Cup in France (June 2019).............................................................53
Figure 4 - Demographics snapshot (1) of the 28 female officials from Pennsylvania.........80
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Figure 5 - Demographics snapshot (2) of the 28 female officials from Pennsylvania.........81
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Abstract
As organized sports in the United States has seen steady growth over the past few
decades, the sports officiating industry has faced tremendous challenges including a decreased
number of officials across multiple sports disciplines and levels as well as a wider age and
gender gap among sports officials. This study examined the issues that female officials who
officiated male dominated organized sports face in Pennsylvania and makes recommendations
to help address these issues. This exploration exposed the types of concerns that these female
officials experienced and lived and analyzed the approach and techniques they utilized to
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overcome these challenges and assessed the state of their self-efficacy beliefs. The primary
source of data from the official results of the 2017 National Association of Sports Officials
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(NASO) survey were analyzed to identify the key issues faced by female officials who reside
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in Pennsylvania (PA). The researcher built on the findings discovered from the first source of
data to design specific interview questions that were tailored for the interview protocol.
Participants of the study included twelve (12) current female officials who refereed organized
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sports in Pennsylvania. Data collection used primary sources of data as well as semi-structured
interviews conducted with the participants. Responses and results were analyzed and findings
were synthetized to provide recommendations to address the issues of officials‘ shortage,
acceptance, recruitment, retention, diversity and inclusion as well as strategies to reduce the
gender parity and age gap among all sports officials.
Keywords: female officials, gender parity, NASO, reefficacy, referees, sport leadership.
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FEMALE SPORTS OFFICIALS: A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF THE ISSUES 1
I. CHAPTER ONE
Introduction / Background
The American Heritage Dictionary defines the term organized sport as ―a structured
activity involving physical exertion and skills that is governed by a set of rules or customs and
often undertaken competitively‖ (2019).
Wiggins (2013) indicated that ―highly organized adult directed youth sport programs
began in the United States during the second half of the nineteenth century. Although children
had participated in informal play activities, recreation, and sport before 1865, it was only in the
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post-Civil War period that children, particularly boys, had opportunities to participate in highly
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organized sports directed by concerned adults representing various groups and associations and
organizations‖ (Wiggins, 2013, p.65).

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Cox (2011) noted that ―the northeastern part of the United States‘ public schools was
the place with the most successful youth sports programs‖ and added that ―the first organized
sports league for boys [began] in New York City in 1903‖. The Public Schools Athletic
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League began with three hundred players. By 1910, ―there were more than one hundred-fifty
thousand children involved‖ (Cox, 2011, p.9). By the 1920s the number of highly organized
adult-directed youth sport programs founded by private agencies grew significantly and their
primary interests were not always driven by the confines of the educational domain but rather a
century of boys networks (Wiggins, 2002, p.17).
Wiggins (2013) noted that ―unfortunately, while making the problems in highly
organized youth sports more visible to the American public, legislation, position statements and
accompanying discussions regarding the highly organized youth sport were mostly about White
boys and it was only at the tail-end of the Civil Rights movement that African American boys
were allowed to compete against and alongside their white counterparts in highly organized
youth sport. Similarly, girls of all races and ethnicities also found it especially difficult to find
their way into highly organized youth sport programs. It was not until 1974, just two years
after the passage of Title IX, that Little League Baseball was officially gender-integrated‖
(Wiggins, 1996, 2002, 2013, p.65).
Carpenter and Acosta (2000) argued that ―the architecture of sports for females in the
United States has changed considerably with the enactment of Title IX in 1972. It prohibited
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sex discrimination in educational programs which received federal funds. With the passage of
the Title IX, a massive growth in female participation took place. In contrast to the massive
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growth in participation, leadership positions such as coach, athletics director, official,
previously mostly held by females, became more frequently occupied by males, yet no
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concomitant increase in the representation of female leaders in men‘s athletics took place‖
(Carpenter & Acosta, 2000, p.141).

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Currently in organized sports such as soccer and basketball, just to name a few, there
are multiple stakeholders that play various critical roles in the successful delivery of these
events. More often, four groups of stakeholders (players, coaches, officials and spectators) are
identified as key contributors to any given sporting event based on their level of vested interests
and mindset of the game. Lirgg, Feltz and Merrie (2016) noted that the expectations and
mindsets of sport officials are by nature different than those of the athletes and coaches. They
argued that, although the players and coaches need to be focused on the play at present, their
concerns are often about the process. Meanwhile the sport official‘s focus is solely on outcome
that is his or her call. Furthermore, they claimed that sport officials are held to a higher
standard, fairly or unfairly, as they are seen as influencing the game, often to a greater extent
than the players and coaches (Lirgg, Feltz & Merrie, 2016 p.40).
From a local youth recreational basketball tournament to an international soccer
competition amongst professional teams, organized sports officials are viewed and perceived as
key contributors to the success of these sporting events. According to Austin Christina (2015),
a web producer from Fortune.com, the combined television ad revenue, the online and
television audience and the decrease in worker productivity of the 2015 Super Bowl, the 2014
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National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) tournament and the 2014 World Cup are
valued at several billion US Dollars (USD). She described that $9 billion USD were bet on the
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NCAA versus $3.9 billion USD on the Super Bowl while $1.7 billion USD was noted in
decrease in worker productivity for the World Cup event versus $1.2 billion USD for the
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NCAA event. She further noted that, while the NCAA tournament was indeed one of the most
watched sporting events of the year, the Super Bowl and World Cup also reign supreme in
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terms of popularity (Christina, 2015, retrieved from http://fortune.com/march-madness-super-
bowl-world-cup-revenue/)
Gagne (2015) noted that the role of gender remains an important topic of discussion in
soccer and soccer media coverage; however, such topic is overlooked when dealing with
referees due to the fact that female referees are almost nonexistent at the professional level and
exceedingly scarce at the local, collegiate, and national levels. While one can notice some
balance and equality in the number of female and male youth athletes, a significant disparity
still exists when the focus shift in authoritative roles (referees and coaches) (Gagne, 2015,
retrieved from https://sites.duke.edu/wcwp/tournament-guides/world-cup-2014/world-cup-
referees/women-and-refereeing/)
Given the importance that officials play in organized sports today, only recently have
they become the focus of studies conducted by the research community with a key emphasis on
the topic of decision-making (Plessner & MacMahon, 2013). It is understood that the mindset
of a sport official is, by nature, different than the mindset of the athlete playing the game.
Those differences are often driven by the nature of their decision-making skills and attributes,
all involving awareness, anticipation, positioning and high reliance on physical performance
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(MacMahon, Helsen, Starkes & Weston, 2007).
While acknowledging that other factors such as contextual influences (MacMahon

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& Starkes, 2008) and pre-existing expectancies (MacMahon & Mildenhall, 2012)
contribute to sport officials and coaches‘ decisions, understanding the attributes of the self-
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efficacy theory as developed by Bandura (1977) on current female officials in today‘s
organized sports venues warrants further investigative research.

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Theoretical Framework
Self-Efficacy and Refficacy Theory
Self-Efficacy Theory (SET) refers to ―people‘s judgment of their capabilities to
organize and execute courses of action to produce specific outcomes. One of its most
important qualifiers is that it is situation-specific‖ (Bandura, 1977 p.193). The theory of self-
efficacy as introduced by Bandura (1977) was based on the key assumption that ―psychological
procedures, whatever their form, serve as a means of creating and strengthening expectations of
personal efficacy‖ (Bandura, 1977, p.193), although the theory makes a clear distinction
between expectations of efficacy and response-outcome expectancies, Bandura (1977) defined
efficacy expectations as ― the conviction that one can successfully execute the behavior required
to produce the outcomes‖ (p.193) and outcome expectancies as ― a person‘s estimate that a
given behavior will lead to certain outcomes‖ (p.193).
According to Bandura (1977) self-efficacy theory suggests that there are four major
sources of information used by individuals when forming their self-efficacy judgments. His
theory suggests that people acquire information to evaluate efficacy beliefs from four primary
sources: (1) enactive mastery experiences (actual performances); (2) observation of others
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(vicarious experiences); (3) forms of persuasion, both verbal and otherwise (social persuasion);
and (4) physiological and affective states from which people partly judge their capableness,
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strength, and vulnerability to dysfunction. Additionally, according to the self-efficacy theory,
perceived self-efficacy influences stress and anxiety through one's beliefs about personal
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control of actions, thoughts, and affect (Bandura, 1977, p.194).
Moreover, Bandura (1994) defined self-efficacy as ―the strength of an individual‘s

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conviction that he or she can successfully execute a behavior required to achieve a certain
outcome. Such perceptions are predicted to influence task choices, effort expenditure, and
resilience to failure‖ (Bandura, 1994, p.2).
 Self-efficacy is a personal belief in one‘s capability to organize and execute courses
of action required to attain designated types of performances.
 Self-efficacy is hypothesized to affect an individual‘s choice of activities, effort,
and persistence across a wide range of human functioning.

Following Bandura‘s conceptualization of self-efficacy theory that specified sources
and outcomes efficacy, Guillén and Feltz (2011) were the first to propose a conceptual
framework for referee efficacy (Lirgg, Feltz & Merrie, 2016, p.41).
Guillén and Feltz (2011) argued that although researchers have developed conceptual
frameworks for efficacy beliefs in various work performance contexts, such as teacher efficacy
(Gibson & Dembo, 1984), managerial efficacy (Wood, Bandura, & Bailey, 1990), and coaching
efficacy (Feltz, Chase, Moritz & Sullivan, 1999), they believed that those frameworks were not
suitable for studying the referee self-efficacy also known as ―Refficacy‖. In their opinion,
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―Refficacy has a unique context that involves split-second decision-making with an ad hoc
team of other referees that take place in front of an audience (often unfriendly). The outcomes
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that they hypothesized were based on the fact that, in their opinion, highly regarded and
effective referees should be displaying speed and more accuracy in their decisions, have limited
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athletic rule infringements, be more physically healthy, have lower referees stress, and have
higher approval reports from coaches, athletes, and other officials‖ (Guillén & Feltz, 2011, p.2).
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Lirgg, Feltz and Merrie (2016) argued that ―the expectations of sport officials from
different sports may make the usefulness of one model of sport officiating efficacy difficult‖,
and acknowledged that, ―the Myers, Feltz, Guillén and Dithurbide (2012), Referee Self-
Efficacy Scale (RSES) model is certainly a good starting point in terms of understanding the
self-efficacy of sport officials. However, when using a scale for research purpose (i.e., to
correlate efficacy to performance), the scale probably should be adapted somewhat to be sport-
specific, while keeping the dimensions of the model intact, to be consistent with Bandura‘s
(1997) self-efficacy theory‖ (Lirgg, Feltz & Merrie, 2016, p.42).

Furthermore, Lirgg, Feltz and Merrie (2016) added that ―the initial work of Meyers et
al., (2012) seems to support its usefulness across different sports. However, their sample
contained only five sports and very few female officials. They suggested that a wider variety of
sport officials should be utilized for future research‖ (Lirgg, Feltz & Merrie, 2016, p.47).
Sport Commitment Model (SCM) – Sport Commitment Questionnaire- (SCQ- 2)
According to Lirgg, Feltz and Merrie (2016), Guillén and Feltz (2011) proposed that
―sports officials with higher self-efficacy levels would be more committed to their profession.
Therefore, the extent to which a sport official is committed to an organization, its goals and
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values, and its processes is important to reducing turnover and enhancing recruitment efforts‖
(Lirgg, Feltz & Merrie, 2016, p.46).

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With such goals in mind, Scanlan and al., (1993) developed the Sport Commitment
Model (SCM), a promising model built with the intent to helping explain the underlying
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psychological factors that drive sports participants‘ commitment to their sport. They also
examined the reasoning for these individuals to continue their participation within certain
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sports (p.1). The model divides commitment in sport into five key factors including (1) level of
enjoyment, (2) involvement alternative, (3) personal investment, (4) social constraints and (5)
involvement opportunities; all of these exhibit an effect on the individuals‘ commitment to a
specific activity (Scanlan, Carpenter, Simons, Schmidt, & Keeler, 1993, p.2).
The Sport Commitment Model reveals that individuals are likely to continue a sport based
on their levels of enjoyment and involvement opportunities.
Scanlan et al., (2016) believe that one significant way to move the science and practice
forward in any field is to develop effective measurement tools that are up to date, sound, and
ecologically suitable. As such, an update to the original quantitative instrument SCM was
constructed to produce the Sport Commitment Questionnaire (SCQ) (Scanlan, Russell, Magyar
& Scanlan, 2009). A few years thereafter, a second version of the sport commitment
questionnaire (SCQ-2) was developed by Scanlan, Chow, Sousa, Scanlan, & Knifsend in 2016.
Generally speaking, in sport research, self-efficacy is studied as a predictor of
performance. Athletes‘ performance are usually very objective and quantifiable – percentage
of shots made, number of shots on target, etc., while such predictive analysis could not be
easily applied to sports officials. ―For sports officials, the rightness or wrongness of the call
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often times is in the eye of the beholder (coach, athlete and fan)‖ (Lirgg, Feltz & Merrie, 2016,
p.45). To help mitigate the complexity and challenges that many of these sports officials face,
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many sports disciplines have recently started to include the use of advanced technologies to
assist the officials with their assessment of these specific scenarios that warrant further reviews
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during high profile professional venues.
Julien Laurens (2019), a French writer for (Entertainment and Sports Programming
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Network (ESPN), acknowledged that ―history was made on Friday June 7, 2019 during the
opening game of the Women‘s World Cup in Paris between France and South Korea when the
video assistant referee (VAR) was used for the first time in women‘s football. Referee Claudia
Umpierrez disallowed Griedge Mbock Bathy's goal for France in the 26th minute after the
VAR, led by Mauro Vigliano, showed she was offside by a few centimetres‖ (Laurens, 2019,
retrieved from https://www.espn.com/soccer/fifa-womens-world-cup/story/3870783/var-used-
for-first-time- in-women-football-in-cup-openers )
According to Bela Kirpalani (2018), Deputy Sports Editor at nyunews.com, ―as the case
is made for more representation for women in the sports world, many are debating the scarcity
of female referees. This season, the National Basketball Association had one (1) female referee
out of 64 referees total. As of 2017, the National Football League has one (1) female referee
out of 124 referees. Major League Baseball currently has 91 referees, none of whom are
women. The National Hockey League has not had a female referee since Heather McDaniel
in 1995‖ (Kirpalani, 2018, retrieved from https://nyunews.com/2018/04/22/04-22-sports-ref/).
Furthermore, the International Federation of Football History and Statistics (IFFHS)
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reported that Switzerland‘s Esther Stäubli made history in 2017 by becoming the first female
referee to officiate a match at a male FIFA U17 World Cup following her appointment as the
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referee for the match between Japan and New Caledonia on October 14, 2017 in Kolkata
(India).
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This research study drew on data from two sources. First, the researcher conducted an
in-depth analysis of primary data from the results of the 2017 National Association of Sport
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Officials (NASO) National Officiating Survey that was administered to 17,484 sports officials
in an attempt to understand the latest socio-demographic data and analytics on female officials
involved in organized sports in the United States particularly in Pennsylvania. Based on an
analysis of data from the NASO Survey, the researcher constructed an interview questionnaire
that was leveraged during the interview protocol of the twelve (12) research participants. The
researcher then interviewed the twelve female officials from Pennsylvania to understand the
key issues that they faced and their impacts on their self-efficacy beliefs.
Statement of the Problem
Targeted research on sports officials has been neglected by the research community as
evidenced by the limited amount of literature available on sports officials in general and the
lack of specific literature and research studies dedicated explicitly to female sports officials.
A number of studies including the Athletic Motivation Inventory (Tutko, Lyon, &
Ogilvie, 1969), the Test of Attentional and Interpersonal Style (Nideffer,1976), the Sport
Competition Anxiety Test (Martens,1977), and the Test of Performance Strategies (TOPS) by
Lane, Harwood, Terry, and Karageorghis (2004) and Confirmatory Factor Analysis of the Test
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of Performance Strategies (TOPS) among adolescent athletes, just to name a few, were
conducted in the past especially in the domain of sport psychology with an emphasis on the
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athlete and to some extend the coaches. However, little to no literature could be found on the
resiliency‘s attributes of self-efficacy beliefs of organized sports officials from the perspective
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of female participants. This void in the literature does not sustain the constant changing
environment within the field of sports and our current understanding of the crucial role that
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female officials play in these contexts, particularly in organized sports such as soccer and
basketball that are predominated by male athletes. Considering the constant evolution of the
game dynamic and strategy, rules and regulations, competencies, skills set and leadership that
organized sports officials are required to grasp and master, it is important to conduct this study
to help fill the current gap in the literature regarding the role of female officials and to provide
ideas for future research. Therefore, the guiding question that this study investigated is ―what
are the major issues faced by the female officials who perform their function in an environment
that is heavily male-dominated?‖

Purpose of the Study
Given the significant role that sports officials play in the successful execution of many
organized sports venues, this research study expanded on the seminal work of Bandura (1977)
Self-efficacy Theory (SET), Guillén and Feltz (2011) Refficacy Framework and Scanlan,
Chow, Sousa, Scanlan, & Knifsend (2016), Sport Commitment Questionnaire (SCQ-2) to
understand the issues that the female officials faced in male dominated sports in Pennsylvania.
In order to achieve this goal, the researcher used multiple tools including an in-depth
review of the data and analytics using the survey conducted by the National Association of
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Sports Officials (NASO) in 2017 as well as one-on-one, semi-structured interviews of twelve
(12) current Pennsylvanian female officials who officiate organized sports in order to answer
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the research questions described below. The researcher used a mixed method research study as
a research design to conduct the study. Two sources of data were utilized during this research.
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First source of data - NASO‘s 2017 Survey: The researcher conducted a critical
analysis of the data gathered by the National Association of Sports Officials organization 2017
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survey to identify the key issues faced by the female officials that reside in Pennsylvania.
Second source of data - Interviews: The researcher built on the findings discovered
from the first source of data to design specific interview questions that were used during the
interviews protocols of the twelve (12) research study participants.
In the U.S., the youth and professional organized sports industry play an important role
in the development of various local, regional and national economies. On February 9, 2019,
Forbes announced its annual valuation of the National Basketball Association‘s (NBA) 30
teams. According to its findings, the league‘s 30 teams generated $8 billion in revenue in the
2017-2018 season. The average NBA franchise‘s valuation reached a record $1.65 billion and
such valuation was triple the figure of the average team valuation five years ago. Every NBA
team is valued at $1 billion and up for the first time ever. ―Investor interest in the NBA is
enormous right now,‖ said Forbes‘ senior editor Kurt Badenhausen, ―thanks to the league‘s
strong current economic environment, as well as the international growth prospects which are
the best of any major U.S. sports league‖ (Forbes, 2019, retrieved from www.forbes.com/nba.).
Many organized sports events would have not taken place without the presence of approved
and qualified officials who are viewed as instrumental parties to the success of these venues.
W
These financial highlights again support the critical and important role that the sports officials
play in the success of these organized sports events.

IE
Many athletics and sports organizations and associations including the National
Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) contribute to the ongoing success and growth of many
EV
athletes, coaches, officials and sporting venues. One of these organizations is the National
Association of Sport Officials (NASO). According to NASO (2019), during the spring and
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summer of 2017, the National Officiating Survey was completed by more than 17,000 sports
officials from all levels and all sports. The National Officiating Survey is the most
comprehensive survey ever completed in the history of the officiating industry
with 162 questions and an approximate grand total of 6,000,000 data points. The data collected
are available for research, study and analysis to anyone interested in the sports officiating
industry (NASO, 2019, retrieved on May 12, 2019. https://www.naso.org/survey/).
With the proper inquiries and authorization from NASO (appendix B and appendix
C), the researcher was provided with the survey results underlying datasets. For example,
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A Critical Analysis of The Issues Women Face in Male Dominated Sports in Pennsylvania

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Running head: FEMALE SPORTS OFFICIALS: A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF THE ISSUES

WOMEN FACE IN MALE DOMINATED SPORTS IN PENNSYLVANIA

FACE IN MALE DOMINATED SPORTS IN PENNSYLVANIA

A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF ROBERT MORRIS

Correspondence concerning this dissertation should be addressed to jkbst251@mail.rmu.edu

All rights reserved

INFORMATION TO ALL USERS

All Rights Reserved.

Copyright 2020 Jean K. Bley

without you – Thank You for your contribution –

Finally, I dedicate this dissertation to my deceased parents: Bley Kouassi Edouard

hard work ethics have been driving forces in my life.

I. CHAPTER ONE .................................................................................................................. 1

Theoretical Framework ...................................................................................................... 4

Self-Efficacy and Refficacy Theory.................................................................................. 4

Sport Commitment Model (SCM) – Sport Commitment Questionnaire- (SCQ- 2).......... 7

Statement of the Problem..................................................................................................10

Purpose of the Study.......................................................................................................... 11

First Source of Data………………................................................................................. 11

Significance of the Research Study..................................................................................14

Definition of Terms ............................................................................................................16

Chapter One Summary......................................................................................................18

II. REVIEW OF THE L ITERATURE ..................................................................................... 19

Evolution of Organized Sports in the United States....................................................... 19

1972 – Title IX becomes Law in the United States......................................................... 21

Organized Sports Laws, Regulations and Rules................................................................ 27

The Olympic Movement: From 1894 to Present............................................................. 32

Olympic Movement Code On The Prevention Of The Manipulation Of Competition... 33

Self-Efficacy and Refficacy Theory.………………......................................................... 34

Dimensions of Refficacy for Officiating Success.…........................................................37

Referee Self-Efficacy Scale.…………………….............................................................41

Sport Commitment Model and Sport Commitment Questionnaire................................. 45

Sports Officials Types and Motivation.…………...…......................................................48

Purpose of the Study and Research Questions ...............................................................57

Participant Selection and Confidentiality Waiver…......................................................60

Theoretical Framework: Self-Efficacy and Refficacy Theory....................................... 61

First Source of Data - Thematic Analysis….....................................................................64

NASO Survey Data and Results Analysis…....................................................................64

Second Source of Data – Interview Questions..................................................................65

Participant Recruitment Process……..............................................................................66

Participant Eligibility Criteria…….............................................................................. 68

Interview Procedure / Semi-Structured Interviews Session............................................72

Chapter Three Summary................................................................................................... 75

IV. CHAPTER F OUR ............................................................................................................ 76

Data Analysis Process ........................................................................................................ 77

Phase 3: Analysis of the Participants Eligibility Criteria……………….......................96

Categorization and Demographic Information of the 12 female participants.............100

Geographical Location of the 12 female participants.................................................100

Age and Generation grouping of the 12 female participants .......................................... 101

Relationship Status of the 12 female participants ……................................................ 102

Education Level of the 12 female participants ………................................................ 102

Officiating Credentials of the 12 female participants …….….………………….....104

Hobbies and Interests of the 12 female participants ……............................................... 105

Research Questions Data Anslysis…………...................................................................107

RQ1- Summary and Data Analysis…..…………………...............................................107

RQ2- Summary and Data Analysis…..…………………...............................................108

RQ3- Summary of Data Analysis...…..…………………...............................................112

RQ4- Summary of Data Analysis……..…………………..............................................115

Chapter Four Summary....................................................................................................119

V. Chapter Five - DISCUSSION…......................................................................................121

Statement of the Problem..................................................................................................121

Research Questions ...........................................................................................................122

Limitations and Delimitations..........................................................................................123