Perceived Respect Climate, Pressure Self-Efficacy, and Intention to Continue Refereeing: Scale Development and a Cross-Sectional Structural Equation Model

Background/Objectives: Retaining qualified referees is essential to organised sport, yet the social and psychological factors associated with referees’ intention to continue remain insufficiently understood. This study developed two referee-specific measures—the Referee Respect Climate Scale (RRC) and Referee Continuation Intention Scale (RCI)—and estimated the association between perceived respect climate and continuation intention, including the statistical indirect association through self-efficacy for performing under pressure. Methods: An online cross-sectional survey was completed by 630 referees between 31 October and 25 December 2025; 625 eligible adults were analysed (67.7% men; mean age: 33.56 ± 10.35 years). The sample was split for exploratory (n = 312) and confirmatory (n = 313) factor analyses of the newly developed measures. Because Mardia’s test indicated multivariate non-normality, the three-factor measurement and structural models were estimated with robust (Satorra–Bentler) maximum likelihood and 5000-resample bias-corrected bootstrap confidence intervals; sensitivity analyses used ordinal WLSMV estimation, covariate adjustment and multigroup invariance testing by sex. Results: The RRC yielded a five-item unidimensional structure (α = 0.82; CR = 0.82), and the RCI a six-item unidimensional validation model (α = 0.92; CR = 0.92). The measurement model fit well (robust CFI = 0.991, TLI = 0.989, RMSEA = 0.032, SRMR = 0.034). RRC was associated with RCI (β = 0.554) and pressure self-efficacy (β = 0.276), while pressure self-efficacy was associated with RCI (β = 0.117). The indirect association was small (β = 0.032; 95% BC CI: [0.010, 0.064]); the R2 for RCI was 0.356. Ordinal, covariate-adjusted and alternative-item sensitivity analyses preserved the substantive pattern. Loading and intercept invariance across sex was supported, whereas ordinal threshold invariance was only approximate. Exploratory multigroup tests suggested a larger pressure self-efficacy path among women, although this was test-dependent. Conclusions: Perceived respect climate was strongly associated with referees’ continuation intention, whereas the indirect association through pressure self-efficacy was small. The new measures show promising initial psychometric properties, but independent and longitudinal validation is required.