Abstract
This study proposed a model to examine the role of self-efficacy, career goals, and athletic identity (AI) on the career planning of elite soccer players. Two hundred and eighty-one elite soccer players (males) participated in this study. Means, SD, and bivariate correlations were calculated for the variables under analysis. The hypothesized effect of self-efficacy, career goals, and AI on career planning was tested using structural equation modeling (SEM). Results supported the adequacy of the proposed model in explaining the career planning. Career planning is positively influenced by the level of self-efficacy of players through the definition of career goals and is negatively influenced by the level of AI. At the same time, the self-efficacy of players through the definition of career goals positively influenced AI. These findings reinforce the important role of self-efficacy and career goals for the development of AI and career planning and at the same time the opposite relationship between AI and career planning. Thus, it is suggested that a balance on AI, maintaining high levels of self-efficacy and career goals, is required to improve the process of career planning and retirement.
Highlights
Understanding the career of players through the umbrella of the Holistic Athletic Career Model (Wylleman, 2019) underlines a holistic life span and “beginning-to-end” approach of the career development of athletes, describing career pathways and predicting normative transitions between adjacent stages in a multilayer process
The aim of this study was to test a model examining the role of self-efficacy on career goals and athletic identity (AI) on career planning of elite soccer players
It was a first attempt to integrate AI with self-efficacy and career goals to further explain the process of career planning
Summary
Understanding the career of players through the umbrella of the Holistic Athletic Career Model (Wylleman, 2019) underlines a holistic life span and “beginning-to-end” approach of the career development of athletes, describing career pathways and predicting normative transitions between adjacent stages in a multilayer process. The predictability of normative transitions, such as career retirement, creates an opportunity to prepare athletes to cope with them in advance (Stambulova et al, 2009). The career of players is a process that should be prospectively managed to balance individual resources and barriers to prepare a smooth retirement and the life after sport (Alfermann and Stambulova, 2007; Demulier et al, 2013). Self-efficacy could be defined as the belief or ability of an individual to perform a specific task or behavior to bring
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