Psychological Ownership in Athletic Training

Study Design

We used a cross-sectional survey design to explore organizational and professional PO among clinically practicing ATs. This project was deemed exempt research by the Indiana State Institutional Review Board.

Participants

To be included in the study, ATs had to be active members of the National Athletic Trainers' Association (NATA), credentialed by the Board of Certification, and currently practicing daily clinical patient care. A random sample of 8000 ATs was generated from the NATA member database and emails inviting participation were sent. A total of 11.5% (n = 887) of individuals accessed the survey; of that group, 623 individuals met the inclusion criteria, consented to participation, completed the survey entirely (70.2%, n = 623/887), and were included in the analysis. Participants were primarily female, full-time employees, 33 ± 9 years old, who worked in the collegiate or university setting, held a professional master's degree, had 6 to 10 years of experience, and did not supervise others. Participant demographic information can be found in the Table.

Table Demographic Variables

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Instrumentation

The web-based survey (Qualtrics) consisted of 4 sections: the informed consent, a demographic section (7 items), the Psychological Ownership Questionnaire (POQ; 16 items; Mind Garden, Inc),⁵ and the adapted Psychological Ownership Questionnaire for the athletic training profession (POQ-AT; 16 items). The demographic section of the instrument allowed us to gather information on gender, age, practice setting, ethnicity, education, years of experience, employment status, and supervisory role.

The POQ was designed to evaluate preventative and promotive forms of PO over an organization.⁵ The 16 items were categorized into 2 forms and 5 dimensions. The forms were preventative PO and promotive PO. The dimensions were territoriality, self-efficacy, accountability, sense of belongingness, and sense of self-identity.⁵ Territoriality was the lone dimension composing the preventative psychological ownership form.⁵ The dimensions of self-efficacy, accountability, sense of belongingness, and sense of self-identity composed the promotive psychological ownership form.⁵ Participants rated items on a 6-point Likert scale: 1 represented strongly disagree and 6 represented strongly agree. Mean scores were calculated for overall psychological ownership, for each form, and for each dimension.⁵ The maximum score for overall psychological ownership, each form, and each dimension was 6, and the minimum score was 1.⁵ The 5 dimensions of the POQ demonstrated acceptable reliability during questionnaire development (Cronbach α = 0.72–0.92), and in a follow-up study, researchers replicated and validated the questionnaire's psychometric properties (α = 0.80–0.92).⁵ When the POQ was measured against similar constructs, such as transformational leadership, organizational citizenship behavior, organizational commitment, workplace deviance, intentions to stay, and job satisfaction, it displayed acceptable reliability (α = 0.77–0.96).⁵ The questionnaire was positively related to transformational leadership (r = 0.23, P < .01), individual-oriented organizational citizenship behavior (OCB; r = 0.15, P < .01), organization-targeted OCB (r = 0.57, P < .01), job satisfaction (r = 0.49, P < .01), and intention to stay with an organization (r = 0.50, P < .01) and was negatively related to workplace deviance (r = −0.36, P < .01).⁵ In summary, the POQ has been used with various constructs and has maintained its internal consistency. As such, it was reasonable to consider modifying the tool to address both organizational and professional PO in athletic training.

The POQ-AT was adapted from the POQ and used the same 16 items, 2 forms, 5 dimensions, and scoring as the POQ. We made vernacular changes so that the POQ-AT reflected the intent to measure PO over the athletic training profession. The word organization in the original POQ was changed to profession in the POQ-AT. Definitions of organization and profession were given to participants before they answered the respective questionnaire sections. Organization was defined as

The group through which you are employed. The group whose mission, vision, and standards you are obligated to. The group through which you practice clinically, regularly rendering services or treatments to patients.

Profession was defined as

The athletic training profession. A group of healthcare providers, recognized by the American Medical Association, who render service or treatment, under the direction of or in collaboration with a physician, in accordance with their education, training, ethical standards, and the states' statutes, rules and regulations. As a part of the healthcare team, services provided include injury and illness prevention, wellness promotion and education, emergent care, examination and clinical diagnosis, therapeutic intervention, and rehabilitation of injuries and medical conditions.

The vernacular changes in the POQ-AT and the accompanying definitions were reviewed by survey design experts and deemed appropriate. The tools demonstrated acceptable internal consistency (POQ: α = 0.81, POQ-AT: α = 0.76) in the sample population.

Procedure

The survey was emailed to potential participants who had been randomly selected by the NATA. The initial email included information on the study and a link to the web-based survey. After the initial email, participants were sent weekly reminders for 3 weeks and a final reminder at week 5. Data collection closed after 7 weeks. The data were collected and stored by the NATA Research Survey Service until the project was completed before being deidentified and shared with the research team for analysis.

Data Analysis

Participants who did not complete both the POQ and POQ-AT were omitted from the analysis. We calculated descriptive statistics for central tendency for demographic variables. Descriptive statistics for the POQ and POQ-AT were computed using the mean score for the overall PO, form score, and dimension score. We used nonparametric tests to investigate differences between the POQ and POQ-AT overall scores, form scores, and dimension scores as well as demographic variables in relation to the POQ and POQ-AT overall scores. A Wilcoxon signed rank test was conducted to assess differences in overall POQ and POQ-AT scores. A Mann-Whitney U test was calculated to evaluate differences in overall POQ and POQ-AT scores between participants who supervised personnel and those whot did not. We used a Kruskal-Wallis test to identify differences in POQ and POQ-AT scores among those with various years of experience and subsequent Mann-Whitney U tests to perform pairwise analyses when appropriate. All statistical analyses were completed at a significance level of P < .05 and conducted using SPSS (version 27; IBM Corp).

Psychological Ownership

The ATs in this study described greater overall and promotive professional PO than overall and promotive organizational PO. Participants also indicated greater professional than organizational belongingness and self-identity and less professional than organizational territoriality and accountability. Belongingness was defined as a need for a “home” that satisfied social and socioemotional needs.⁵Self-identity was a possession or object, organization, or entity that became an extension and expression of an individual's values and beliefs.⁵ Belongingness and self-identity with a target were related to feelings of accomplishment and aspiration, whereby a person's goals often reflected those feelings of accomplishment and aspiration.⁵ Self-identity with a target of PO may promote positive behaviors that are not prescribed by roles or responsibilities.⁵ Our findings showed that ATs may have felt more “at home” within the profession of athletic training than within their employing organizations. The values and beliefs of their profession might better reflect their own values and beliefs than those of their organizations. Greater professional self-identity may promote positive unprescribed behaviors on the professional level that are not seen at the organizational level. For instance, when ATs in the collegiate setting identified with a team as opposed to a patient population, they might have engaged in negative behaviors such as moral disengagement from return-to-play decisions.¹⁸ These ATs may have related team success to individual goals, accomplishments, and aspirations, suggesting that identity and PO must be directed at the correct target to promote positive behaviors.

Territoriality was described as a preventative form of PO.⁵ It was defined by the fear that external entities may influence a target of PO, which led to the need to defend or protect that target from others.⁵Accountability was the expectation that an individual would be called upon to justify his or her beliefs or actions to others.⁵ Territoriality was related to an individual's obligations and duties, and the goals associated with territoriality were focused on reducing punishment.⁵ Our participants may have felt more need to justify their actions, defend themselves, and reduce the likelihood of punishment within their employing organizations than within the athletic training profession. As an example, in the social media culture of athletic training, this could be revealed by the connection with others in #ATTwitter (Twitter) while simultaneously reporting not feeling valued by employers; thus, they defend themselves in their work and feel empowerment among others within the profession.

Control over a target, intimate knowledge of a target, and investment of self into a target have all been theorized as explaining why an individual may feel ownership over a job or organization.⁴ Several researchers^11,12 identified that job control, decision-making power or participative decision making, and being part of a self-managing team promotes or has a positive relationship with PO. We found that ATs working in a supervisory role indicated greater PO than individuals who were not supervisors. Also, ATs with 21+ years' experience expressed greater organizational and professional PO than ATs with fewer years of experience. Job control and decision-making power may explain why ATs who supervised others and ATs with more years of experience acknowledged greater levels of PO. However, this rationale does not justify why ATs with 6 to 10 years of experience displayed the lowest levels of organizational and professional PO among all years of experience groupings and all age groups. They were the only group that demonstrated less professional PO than organizational PO. These results could explain the general decline in the labor force at 30 years of age.²

Job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and intent to stay with an organization are relevant when discussing the vitality of the profession through the lens of work-life intention and job retention. Job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and intent to stay with an organization were positively related to organizational PO in various contexts.^6–8,12,13 In our study, ATs indicated greater overall PO over the profession than over their employing organization. Although we did not measure job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and intent to stay, we can theorize that ATs were possibly more satisfied with and committed to the athletic training profession than they were to their employing organizations, meaning that they could be more likely to leave their organization before they leave the profession.

Given our findings, we proposed that organizational and professional PO occurred on a continuum across the ATs' occupational lifespan. Throughout this continuum, the targets of an AT's PO may shift and change as experience is gained. Those ATs with 0 to 5 years of experience may have felt PO over the profession based on recent control over, and investment into, their education and early career opportunities. They may not have experienced work-life conflict or job-role strain at a level that negatively affected their feelings of belongingness or identification with their organization or profession. In the 6 to 10 years' experience range, an AT's personal and professional needs and priorities may have changed, and the PO may have changed based on evolving priorities. Respondents might have desired more job control, decision-making power, or supervisory responsibilities to meet their changing personal and professional needs. If these opportunities were not provided in the organization, the ATs' PO in their career might have declined, increasing their willingness to leave their organization and the profession, if needed, to find a sense of belongingness and identity elsewhere. The ATs who stayed in the profession past this point might then continue to invest in their organization and the athletic training profession. Their knowledge of these targets increased with time and experience, and they were given more organizational or professional control, which maintained or increased their PO over their organization or the profession.

Recommendations for Promoting Psychological Ownership

To promote PO, organizational and professional AT leaders should create formal and informal workplace opportunities for employees. Employers should provide ATs with decision-making power and supervisory responsibilities when appropriate, as these have been shown to promote PO in other industries.^6,7,11,12 If no opportunities for such strategies are available, organizations should actively establish environments that promote employee control over the organization, intimate knowledge of the organization, and investment of the employee in the organization. This could be accomplished via a continuing onboarding, mentoring, and socialization process at various time points in an AT's career, whether the AT is a new professional or simply a new employee. According to multiple sources,^19–21 a large majority (76%–77%) of ATs went through a formal orientation when transitioning to practice or transitioning to a new place of work, which demonstrates the opportunity for organizational PO development. When transitioning to practice, ATs deemed that practicing the emergency action plan, meeting with athletic training and other staff, touring the facilities, and meeting with supervisors were the most useful orientation tactics.¹⁹ Additionally, collegiate ATs who were formally or informally oriented to work-life balance policies felt more confident and knowledgeable about those policies.²⁰ These orientation tactics may be useful because they provide ATs with intimate knowledge of their new work environments and a level of control, which promotes belongingness, identity, and PO over the organization. Those ATs transitioning to practice have relied on the support of professional mentors, with availability, honest feedback, reassurance, and promotion of learning being the primary benefits for the mentee.^20–22 Such strategies can continue beyond the initial orientation process and across an occupational lifespan for the ongoing development and maintenance of organizational PO. Employers should encourage and facilitate formal and informal mentorship relationships for all staff members. They can invite their AT staff to participate in the orientation of new employees, hold regular meetings with individual employees and among staff, and regularly orient staff to policies as they adapt, change, or require reinforcement. Lastly, employers should consider calling on their staff members with 6 to 10 years of experience in these processes. This experienced group may positively affect their colleagues' comparatively lower PO by giving them control and allowing them to invest in targets related to the organization.

Another opportunity for PO development may be in employee self-care strategies within an organizational setting. Recent investigators²³ found that ATs regularly engaged in physical and interpersonal self-care strategies, including moderate exercise, a healthy and nutritious diet, and hydration.²³ Athletic trainers in the college or university setting (National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I) used exercise as a mechanism for separating or disengaging from their AT role.²⁴ Fitness is thought to support healthful regeneration and increase engagement.²⁵ Exercise is critical for building physical, psychological, and social resiliency and was particularly helpful for leaders managing work-related stress, allowing them to develop increased stamina and mental focus.²⁵ In fact, intense exercise improved the performance of leaders who were experiencing emotional exhaustion and burnout.²⁶ Outdoor exercise is thought to be even more effective and might be considered an enhanced self-care strategy.²⁷ Moreover, organizations that have implemented exercise programs saw improvements in workers' perceptions of wellbeing and personal accomplishment and decreases in psychological stress and emotional exhaustion.²⁸

Interpersonal self-care strategies used by participants included social relationships, laughter, and setting personal and professional boundaries.²³ Most respondents reported engagement in positive personal relationships and laughter on a weekly basis.²³ Among ATs, support networks were particularly helpful for rejuvenating their commitment to athletic training.²⁹ Social support and relationships also enhance one's understanding of his or her role, thereby minimizing role strain.²⁹ A supportive work community contributes to job engagement, feelings of energy, involvement, and efficacy in the workplace.³⁰ Laughter is a way to express self-acceptance, kindness, and compassion for ourselves and others, especially in times of perceived weakness.³¹ Laughter is thought to be an effective self-care strategy in the workplace because it has both physical and psychological benefits.³¹ Joyous laughter enhances mood, decreases stress hormones, enhances immune activity, lowers bad cholesterol and systolic blood pressure, and raises good cholesterol.³²

In theory, organizations could leverage strategies to develop organizational PO by promoting an employee's self-efficacy, self-identity, and sense of belongingness within an organization while also enabling the individual to invest in the organization. Supervisors should consider encouraging various forms of self-care strategies to improve connection and provide a sense of ownership in the organization. Considering the success of work-based wellness programs,^33,34 organizations that offer and combine physical and interpersonal strategies to help ATs disengage from their professional role might find their employees have a stronger connection with the organization.

Limitations and Future Considerations

The concept of PO is complex, and appropriate measurements are still somewhat debated in the organizational leadership literature.³⁵ The instrument we used in this study accounted for both the preventative and promotive forms of PO, whereas other instruments often ignore aspects of territoriality. To our knowledge, we are the first to assess the PO of ATs in relation to their organizations and the profession; therefore, we were unable to perform external comparisons, and limitations exist. Other researchers in this area focused specifically on PO over their “organization.” However, we also evaluated PO over the profession, as this helped us to better explore the vitality of the profession.

The data for this project were collected within the first 6 months of the SARS-CoV-2 global pandemic. Whether the pandemic had a direct influence on our results is unclear, but it is worth noting, particularly if this work is used for subsequent comparisons.

Future authors should seek to qualify our findings. Further investigation is needed to determine possible causes for the PO differences between ATs and professionals in other fields, examine why professional and organizational PO differences exist, and explore how feelings of territoriality, accountability, belongingness, and self-identity may positively and negatively affect the specific behaviors and actions of ATs. Additionally, more information is needed to determine why individuals with 6 to 10 years of experience indicated the lowest levels of PO. Factors that may contribute to organizational PO, including work-family responsibilities, formal and informal workplace policies, work-family conflict, work locus of control, workplace dynamics (including supervisor-supervisee interpersonal relationships), race and ethnicity, gender, and even setting should be addressed. Future researchers should also identify PO outcomes related to job and professional satisfaction, intent to stay with an organization or in the profession, work-life conflict, and burnout to improve job retention and work-life balance. Psychological ownership targets in relation to practice advancement, such as the use of evidence-based practice, patient-rated outcome measures, and documentation of best practices, should be measured so that recommendations can be made to overcome barriers and improve the reputation of the profession.