Study Abroad’s Impact on U.S. Sport Management Students

2018 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 90-99 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carrie W. LeCrom ◽  
Brendan Dwyer ◽  
Gregory Greenhalgh

As society looks to identify globally minded citizens and leaders to move us forward, sport and education have a leading role to play. The sport industry is unique in how globally focused it is, and therefore, it is critical that sport management students be well prepared for this world. Study-abroad experiences for sport management students have the ability to aid in their development as world-minded individuals. The current study sampled students from four sport management programs participating in study-abroad programs over a 3-year time frame. The pre- and posttest results on a scale of global mindedness revealed no significant differences before and after studying abroad; however, there were significant differences between the five factors of global mindedness. Reasons for these potential findings, related to the theory of reasoned action, are discussed, as well as how this study can be built on in future iterations.

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 2275
Author(s):  
Samuel López-Carril ◽  
Miguel Villamón ◽  
María Huertas González-Serrano

Social media are one of the most valuable management tools used by sport managers in the fulfilment of their daily tasks. However, the studies that share and analyse the impact of educational experiences that incorporate social media into sport management education for professional purposes are scarce to date. Thus, this study presents an educational innovation piloted in a sport management course where LinkedIn—the social media most associated with the professional sphere—is introduced through an experiential learning methodology, as a driver of students’ career development and as a tool to keep up to date and interact with the sport industry. To assess the learning outcomes, a new scale was developed and tested. A total of 90 Spanish undergraduate sport management students (M = 22.71; SD = 3.84) participated in the study, partaking in a pre-test and a post-test. Regarding the results linked to the testing of the scale, the statistical analysis reflects the scale’s two-dimensional nature, explaining 68.78% of the variance, presenting good psychometric properties (α = 0.95). On the other hand, significant increases in all the scale items between the two measures were obtained, with large effects size in the two dimensions (Cohen’s d ≥ 0.80). Therefore, it is concluded that LinkedIn can help to develop the professional profile of sport management students, Linked(In)g what is taught in the classroom with what the sport industry demands.


2020 ◽  
pp. 102831532090615
Author(s):  
Melissa Whatley ◽  
Adam C. Landon ◽  
Michael A. Tarrant ◽  
Donald Rubin

This study explores connections between design features of faculty-led short-term study abroad programs and resulting changes in students’ global perspectives. Over 2,000 students provided data for this study, completing the Global Perspective Inventory (GPI) before and after studying abroad. Results indicated that program features such as participation in an internship and opportunities for reflection are positively associated with global perspective development while abroad, whereas features such as number of students traveling together and coursework in English are negatively associated with such development. Given the increasing numbers of students who participate in faculty-led short-term abroad programs, research that provides evidence-based recommendations concerning program design is essential to enhancing global perspectives through study abroad.


2009 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 92-109 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacquelyn Cuneen ◽  
M. Joy Sidwell

Internships permit sport management students to link classroom learning to the professional environment. Since internships provide students with opportunities to learn on-the-job and test their skills in the marketplace, the experiences should be uniformly beneficial to all students regardless of gender. This study was conducted to describe internship work conditions (i.e., opportunities to perform in essential marketplace functions) for male and female sport management interns assigned to ‘Big Four’ professional sport organizations. Participants were 74 sport industry professionals who supervised a total of 103 interns over a one-year period. A X2 Test of Independence found that male and female interns working in professional sport had comparable opportunities to perform and learn on the job. Differences in opportunity, hiring practices, and on-the-job benefits emerged primarily as a function of job specialization (e.g., operations, marketing, venue management), league/association, or gender of the internship supervisor rather than gender of the interns.


2018 ◽  
Vol 42 (3) ◽  
pp. 184-204 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew G. Hawzen ◽  
Christopher M. McLeod ◽  
John T. Holden ◽  
Joshua I. Newman

For university students in sport management programs, working in sports is often the end goal, and internships have become the most common curricular component for achieving this end. Sport management students bring to these internships various backgrounds and active fan attachments with sports that structure their work experiences and create certain conditions of exploitation. We thus conducted interviews with current and soon-to-be interns to understand their subjective perceptions and experiences of working in sports as fans. Drawing upon Lauren Berlant’s concept of cruel optimism as well as neo-Marxist theories of affective labor, we reveal the structuring contradictions of interns’ work in the contemporary sports industry.


2019 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 73-82
Author(s):  
Elizabeth A. Taylor ◽  
Gareth J. Jones ◽  
Kristy McCray ◽  
Robin Hardin

The sport industry is ripe for issues of sexual harassment/assault due to the high value placed on masculine characteristics and the power differential between male leaders/coaches and female subordinates/athletes. This culture permeates sport organizations, as issues of sexual harassment/assault committed by athletes and coaches/administrators are commonplace and have recently been mishandled, raising questions about effective education. This study examined the relationship between education on sexual harassment/assault and the endorsement of rape myths by sport management students. Results indicate that training on sexual harassment/assault in sport management classrooms is low and is potentially ineffective at curbing rape myth acceptance, suggesting current curricula are insufficient. These findings have both theoretical and practical contributions related to how sport management departments can prepare future professionals to change the culture of sport.


Author(s):  
Andrew Ryan

More and more Japanese students are studying abroad and the Japanese government has set a target of 180,000 students to study abroad each year by 2020 and is providing financial assistance to students to help achieve this goal. However, is financial assistance enough? Surveys conducted with students from a national education-focused university in northern Japan, before and after their study abroad experience, show that they feel underprepared before they leave to go overseas and regret not fulfilling the opportunities they had while abroad. The key areas identified where they needed assistance were with their English language ability, confidence building, and intercultural awareness. This paper suggests that doing a Virtual Exchange (VE) before they travel could help students in all of these areas. It could provide much needed language support, motivation to explore other cultures and share their own, and deliver the confidence to enable them to become more outgoing and make the most of the opportunities presented by studying overseas. Additionally, there is a case to be argued, that VE could help reduce the impact of culture shock. Overall, it is very likely that the use of VE prior to departure could improve students’ study abroad experience. The author also understands that more research is needed on this and proposes a further study comparing students who have studied abroad without conducting VE in advance to those who have, to try and assess its impact on the study abroad experience.


2021 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 106-116
Author(s):  
Makenzie A. Schoeff ◽  
Katie R. Morey ◽  
James E. Johnson ◽  
Anya T. Eicher ◽  
Lawrence W. Judge

As sport specialization continues to shape the youth sport landscape, it is critical for sport management professionals, coaches, parents, and athletes to understand how this trend affects programming and policy development. While youth sport specialization often leads to increased athletic skill in an accelerated time frame, specialization can result in overuse injury, burnout, and delayed social development for children. It is essential that sport management students are aware of the trend in youth sport specialization and the various opportunities available to help educate/collaborate with stakeholders. Furthermore, students need to be exposed to youth sport specialization to better understand how to efficiently manage policy and programs involved in youth, and to understand contemporary research and theory leading to best practices.


2021 ◽  
pp. 095042222110162
Author(s):  
Olivia Wohlfart ◽  
Sandy Adam ◽  
Gregor Hovemann

This article examines the fit (or lack thereof) between the competencies needed by the sport industry and the proficiency of sport management students. The authors apply importance–performance analysis as a strategic management tool to analyze the results of two competence-oriented datasets in a German context. They find that students’ self-identified proficiency is lower than the importance attributed to proficiency by industry experts. The authors critically discuss the absence of differences between the perceived performance of Bachelor’s and Master’s degree students and provide strategic recommendations for sport management higher education. The article highlights the development and communication of generic competencies as a unique selling proposition and reflect on the need to improve subject-specific competencies to further professionalize the field of sport management. Based on these results, a critical reflection of curriculum design in sport management higher education is needed.


2016 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 93-102 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liz A. Sattler ◽  
Clinton Warren

Sales pedagogy and student perceptions of sales have long been studied in business programs across college campuses. While sales pedagogy is a growing content area for sport management programs, it continues to be an area in the field in need of further understanding. The purpose of this study was to explore student perceptions of sales throughout a 16-week course. A qualitative case study methodology was used to develop a rich description of how sport management students perceive sales as a content area, and as a potential profession in the sport industry. Analysis of the themes indicates that throughout the course of the semester, students developed more holistic perceptions of sales, viewed sales as a necessary skill for many jobs in the sport industry, and were more open to a sales job as an entryway into the sport industry.


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