An Analysis of Potential Factors Influencing College Sport Communicators Feels of Being Overworked and Underappreciated

CSCs play pivotal roles, balancing the preservation of student-athlete narratives with the real-time demands of media-driven communication. However, a persistent challenge has emerged: many CSCs experience a pronounced sense of being overworked and undervalued. This study aims to explore predictors contributing to CSCs' feelings of being overworked and underappreciated, investigating factors like years of experience, career motivations, reasons for institutional selection, and tenure plans to understand their impact on CSCs' perceptions before employment. Researchers sent a survey instrument that included Likert scale, closed-ended items related to feelings over being overworked and underappreciated to CSCs. The primary analysis involved an independent samples t-test, additionally, a one-way analysis of variance was conducted to assess years of experience reported by participants and related responses to being overworked and under-appreciated. In terms of the impact of tenure plan on CSC feelings of being overworked and underappreciated, the relationship with coaches and athletes appeared paramount across tenure intention groups. Further, CSCs tended to value coaches and athletes understanding their job as well. However, in terms of reason for entering the industry or taking a specific role, there appeared to be limited patterns within the data.