Athlete burnout and organizational culture: An English rugby replication

Citation

Cresswell SL & Eklund R (2007) Athlete burnout and organizational culture: An English rugby replication. International Journal of Sport Psychology, 38 (4), pp. 365-387. http://www.ijsp-online.com/content/abstracts/

Abstract
Athlete burnout has been postulated to manifest as physical and emotional exhaustion, reduced accomplishment and sport devaluation (Raedeke & Smith, 2001). Qualitative evidence has recently been presented indicating that this multidimensional conceptualization appropriately characterizes the experience of athlete burnout among professional New Zealand rugby players (Cresswell & Eklund, 2006c). The purpose of this study was to extend the work of Cresswell and Eklund (2006c) to ascertain the extent to which this conceptualization of burnout and associated attributions were representative of professional rugby players from a different environment and organizational culture. Overall, the findings supported the contention that while situational and environmental demands leading to athlete burnout may vary, the characteristics of the resulting chronic negative experiential state are robust across settings (Cresswell & Eklund, 2006a; Schaufeli & Enzmann, 1998). Some of the differences in rugby players' attributions for their negative experiences were interpreted as reflecting differences in competition structures and organizational culture.

Journal
International Journal of Sport Psychology: Volume 38, Issue 4