Lauren C. Hindman, Elizabeth Taylor, Martha C. McGrath-Brown, Elizabeth Knapp

The COVID-19 pandemic triggered changes to sport employment, including furloughs, layoffs, and remote work arrangements. The long-term effects of these changes on industry workers are not yet fully understood. The purpose of this study was to examine how employee attitudes toward professional and collegiate sport organizations have changed since March 2020 and what role changes in work-life interface and employees’ identification with their work play in these attitudes. Findings demonstrate that pre-pandemic, sport employees exhibited strong identification with the industry, which contributed to overwork behaviors, burnout, and an unbalanced work-life interface. The pandemic led participants to re-evaluate priorities and seek greater flexibility from their jobs, attitudes which persisted after the pandemic subsided. Such findings reveal how external events can change sport employees’ career orientations, the potential downsides of highly identified employees, the impact of burnout on employee well-being, and the expectation for more flexible work arrangements in the sport industry.

Keywords: Work-Life Interface, Sport Employee Identification, Burnout, Employee Well-Being, Career Shocks, Career Orientations

Citation: Hindman, L. C., Taylor, E., McGrath-Brown, M. C., & Knapp, E. (2025). The great resignation in sports?
 Post-pandemic changes in employee attitudes toward sport employment. International Journal of Sport Management, 26(2), 162-192.

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