Applying the Relational Investment Model to Collegiate Athletes’ Decision to Transfer Institutions

Author Information

Emily Dolan, Slippery Rock University, United States
Tom Flynn, Slippery Rock University, United States

Abstract

The NCAA Transfer Portal provides student athletes (SAs) with a risky yet potentially fruitful avenue to transfer academic institutions. It becomes important, then, to understand the factors that lead players to transfer institutions. This study examines the factors the influence SAs’ decisions to enter the portal. We draw from the relational investment model (RIM), which arises from the interpersonal communication literature, and looks at three factors that predict relational commitment: investment, satisfaction, and comparison of alternatives (Rusbult et al., 2001). A sample of 110 Division I collegiate athletes participated in a survey in which we assessed their intentions to inter the NCAA transfer portal, along with the RIM variables, including perceptions of alternatives, satisfaction, investment, and commitment. Results of a regression analysis demonstrated that SAs felt committed to their athletic program when they felt satisfied, saw fewer appealing alternatives, and were invested in their athletic program. Together these factors that explained over 70% commitment to an athletic program. This commitment was a strong predictor of transfer portal intention. Results are discussed in light of their implications for the RIM, as well as the cognitive and affective mechanisms explaining SAs’ intentions to transfer academic institutions.

Save as a Favourite