Author: Kelli Rodriguez Currie

Publisher:

Published: 2017

Total Pages: 51

ISBN-13:

Resting on core values including a focus on academic achievement and amateur competition, the NCAA requires that student-athletes meet specific eligibility requirements prior to competing in intercollegiate athletics. Prospective and current student-athletes receive information surrounding eligibility requirements from a variety of sources and are solely responsible for securing their eligibility. Signaling theory explores the informational asymmetry that exists between two parties in a transaction, when one party in a position of power holds information that the other party has not obtained and may be important in the ability of the uninformed party to make a decision (Connelly, Certo, Ireland, & Reutzel, 2011). Additionally, importance-satisfaction analysis offers a practical way to evaluate how satisfied consumers are with a particular attribute, against whether or not they believe that attribute to be important (Martilla & James, 1977) This study explores student-athletes' satisfaction with the communications they received surrounding academic and amateurism eligibility requirements for participation in NCAA intercollegiate athletics, and their perceived importance of those communications within an environment of informational asymmetry. Specifically, I surveyed 162 NCAA student-athletes competing in all three NCAA divisions and 20 conferences. The results indicated that while student-athletes were generally satisfied with the communications they received regarding eligibility requirements, discrepancies between the satisfaction with and the reported importance of these communications exist. These results suggest that the NCAA and its member-institutions have an opportunity to improve communications surrounding eligibility requirements in an effort to level the proverbial playing field in an environment of informational asymmetry.