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The purpose of this paper is to identify types of professionalization in Swiss national sport federations (NSFs) and analyze organizational characteristics associated with specific types of professionalization. Such types reveal common patterns among the increasingly complex organizational designs of NSFs and thus contribute to the understanding of professionalization in NSFs.

An online survey of all Swiss NSFs was conducted to identify types of professionalization in these organizations using hierarchical cluster analysis, based on a multi-dimensional framework of professionalization.

The analysis revealed four types of professionalization: formalized NSFs managed by paid staff, NSFs managed by volunteers and a few paid staff off the field, NSFs with differing formalization and paid staff on the field, and moderately formalized NSFs managed by volunteers. The types differ in terms of the NSFs’ organizational characteristics, in particular, size, financial resources, Olympic status, and performance.

Applying factor and cluster analysis is a new approach to analyzing professionalization in NSFs that makes uncovering distinctive organizational patterns among a large number of NSFs possible. These results lay the foundation for understanding the professionalization of NSFs, counseling NSFs on their organizational development, and conducting future research on the design types of sport organizations.

The original purpose of this study was not to focus on job satisfaction, but rather to conduct an exploratory investigation of how symphony orchestra players cope with the frustrations and disappointments of orchestra life. Symphony orchestra players report surprisingly low levels of job satisfaction given the perception held by many that life and work in symphony orchestras is glamorous and rewarding.

Job satisfaction data were collected in the form of interviews and surveys from 66 musicians in an élite, major orchestra and a non‐élite, regional orchestra.

Players in both orchestras were similarly satisfied with co‐worker relationships and experienced similar levels of intrinsic work motivation and job involvement. Despite better financial resources in the major orchestra, satisfaction with opportunities for growth and opportunities to exert influence increased with tenure in the regional orchestra, whereas the opposite was true for major players.

The article discusses context‐driven job satisfaction tradeoffs associated with careers in élite versus non‐élite organizations and the role organizations may play in facilitating or impeding workers’ participation in valued activities. It emphasizes the importance of participation in valued activities as a key driver of job satisfaction.