The impact of “capitalization” social support services on student-athlete well-being

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to investigate capitalization support, an alternative perspective for theorizing social support in-service settings. In the service setting of the student-athlete experience, the relationships between capitalization support service dimensions (i.e. the academic, athletic, self-development and place dimensions), well-being and sports performance are examined through a transformative sport service research (TSSR) lens, a newly introduced form of transformative service research (TSR).

Design/methodology/approach

Data from an online survey of Australian student-athletes (n = 867) is examined using partial least squares structural equation modeling.

Findings

The results support the theorized service dimensions of capitalization support, indicating their validity and relevance to the student-athlete experience. Further, the results demonstrate that all capitalization support dimensions except athletic support (i.e. academic support, place support and self-development support), have a direct effect on well-being and an indirect effect on sports performance.

Originality/value

This research is unique for several reasons. First, it introduces a new perspective, capitalization support, to theorizing about social support in services. Second, it is one of the first studies in both TSR and TSSR to empirically test and demonstrate a relationship between support services, well-being and performance in a single study. Insight into how to design services to optimize well-being in relation to other service objectives like performance thus emerges.

Citation

Fleischman, D., Sotiriadou, P., Mulcahy, R., Kean, B. and Cury, R.L. (2022), "The impact of “capitalization” social support services on student-athlete well-being", Journal of Services Marketing, Vol. 36 No. 6, pp. 813-830. https://doi.org/10.1108/JSM-12-2020-0520