Experiences from active membership and participation in decision-making processes and age in moral reasoning and goal orientation of referees

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the effect of experiences of active membership and participation in decision-making processes and age on moral reasoning and goal orientations of referees in sport. The sample consisted of 148 referees of whom 56 judged soccer, 55 basketball, and 37 handball. Their ages ranged from 17 to 50 years (M=36.6, SD=7.4). Of the total number of referees, 8.3% have no experiences from active membership and participation in decision-making processes in organizations (social, athletic, political), 53.1% were simply active members, and 38.6% were involved in decision-making in their respective organizations. A two-way multivariate analysis of variance showed an interaction between experiences and age on moral reasoning and goal orientation of referees.