Effects of Social Capital through Sports Programs on Job-related Behaviors

This study examines the relationships among workplace social capital, work engagement, job satisfaction, and intent to stay. Employees at a life insurance company (N=878) participated in a self-administered survey. A confirmatory factor analysis(CFA) and a structural equation modeling(SEM) analysis were performed to examine the proposed hypotheses. The findings show that employees with high social capital through sports programs tend to have high work engagement and job satisfaction, which leads to intent to stay; yet unexpectedly, there is no direct relationship between social capital and intent to stay. This indicates that if an organization actively supports programs for its employees to build workplace social capital, it can significantly enhance employees’ work engagement and job satisfaction, thereby strengthening their intent to remain with the organization. Therefore, organizations should focus on fostering strong social networks and trust among employees through sports programs.