Sport management is an applied field of study in which the knowledge and expertise needed to be successful is acquired both inside and outside of the classroom. The more opportunities students have to immerse themselves in practical and applied sport management experiences before graduation, the greater the likelihood they will be attractive to potential employers in the competitive field of sport management. In order to graduate sport management majors who will be competitive in the marketplace, educators must foster opportunities for them to participate in applied learning or experiential learning opportunities, primarily in the form of internships (Lee, Kane, Gregg, & Cavanaugh, 2016, p. 116). The significance of applied learning is illuminated by Moorman (2004), who suggests that no single step in the sport management career path is as valuable as an internship. Internships have become the modus operandi for most professional preparation programs in sport management in the United States and abroad, both at the undergraduate and graduate levels (DeLuca & Braunstein-Minkove, 2016; Stier & Schneider, 2000). In the United States, 86% of sport management programs have mandatory internship credits incorporated into their curriculum, and 77% of sport management programs at the bachelor’s, master’s, or doctoral level have an experiential learning requirement (Jones, Brooks, & Mak, 2008; Schoepfer & Dodds, 2011). Additionally, an examination of sport management curriculum (Schoepfer & Dodds, 2011) revealed that internships were the most common curricular component in sport management programs. According to the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE, 2016) Job Outlook Survey, relevant work experience continues to be an important consideration among employers when interviewing college graduates. Of those employers surveyed, 64.5% prefer to hire candidates with relevant work experience, and of those, 56% favor candidates who have acquired experience through an internship/co-op. Furthermore, the Sport Business Journal surveyed more than 2000 senior-level sport industry executives (in both professional and college sports) regarding the curricular requirements of sport management programs. Specifically, this survey found that executives in the sport industry rank the internship experience as the most valuable requirement (51%) of sport management programs, and they consider the internship essential to the success of a sport management program. In addition, seventy-four percent of the sport executives reported that internships/extracurricular activities carried the most weight when they evaluated entry-level candidates on paper (Sport Business Journal, 2015). Thus, relevant research demonstrates the importance of internships in establishing the credibility of the sports management program and in providing graduates with benefits that make them desirable to potential employers in the field. The purpose of this paper is to (1) provide an overview of the pertinent internship literature relative to sport management internships and experiential learning and (2) provide suggestions for enhancing the sport management internship. The recommendations for improving the internship process are, in part, grounded in Dewey’s experiential learning theory, which contends that “education must be based upon experience – which is always the actual life experience of some individual” (Dewey, 1938, p. 89).

Introduction

and theoretical background Enhancing students’ employability has become one of the most desirable outcomes for tertiary education (Kinash et al. 2014) and sport management programmes (Emery, Crabtree, and Kerr 2012). The term employability is used in this paper with a broad reference to students’ work-readiness and is not confined to merely securing a job (Light and Dixon 2007). In this sense, employability also means that students are able to move between different contextual environments (e.g. commercial and non-commercial) of the industry during their careers (Edwards 2014; Feldmann 2016; Jackson 2016). The employability of graduates is desirable for educational institutions, future employers, and students (Emery, Crabtree, and Kerr 2012; Jackson 2016). Similar to managing any organization, the management of sport organizations is a complex process that encompasses careful planning, organizing, and leading and monitoring functions (Maitland, Hills, and Rhind 2015). Management, and by extension sport management, is also about being aware that an organization is comprised of employees, managers, and customers, all with individual identities, who tend to interact socially (Cunliffe 2009, 2016). Sport management has enjoyed an exponential growth and an unprecedented demand for university education (Costa 2005; Shilbury et al. 2017). Course offerings of undergraduate sport management programmes typically offer courses including sport sociology, sport finance, sport marketing, sport facility management, strategic sport management, sport law, and internship (or Work-Integrated Learning – WIL) (Eagleman and McNary 2010; Martin 2013). These courses help students develop sport industry-related skills, knowledge, and attitudes (SKAs). Besides context specific courses, during their degree and through tutorials, workshops, and assessment tasks, students are encouraged to think critically about complex social, cultural, and political aspects of the sport industry. Examples include doping, gender inequality, and uneven distribution of financial resources (Amis and Silk 2005; Frisby 2005; Skinner and Edwards 2005). WIL is used in sport management programmes to enhance the application of SKAs and to provide students with industry experience prior to graduation (Edwards 2014). The term WIL is also used to describe other cooperative education programmes, such as work placements, internships, and apprenticeships (Atkinson, Rizzetti, and Smith 2005). However, several studies (e.g. Emery, Crabtree, and Kerr 2012; Mathner and Martin 2012; Sotiriadou 2011) have highlighted that due to a disconnect between what employers in the sport industry require and what the sport management graduates offer, universities continue to struggle in their efforts to provide students with the necessary SKAs. In an audit of the Australian sport management job market, sport management students reported a lack of guidance (e.g. on how to ‘navigate’ the industry and how to be successful in career development) during their university studies (Emery, Crabtree, and Kerr 2012). Despite the attempts of tertiary sport management education to improve the application of SKAs, current research fails to explain how students’ employability can be assured more effectively (Feldmann 2016). Even when WIL is included during a student’s course, there is insufficient empirical proof of increased student employability at the end of an internship (Feldmann 2016). Student awareness and experience of the organizational context, moving beyond individual reflection, is essential to achieving the optimal application of SKAs (Boyatzis 2008; Feldmann 2016; Howorth, Smith, and Parkinson 2012).

مقاله سال 2016

 مرور مدیریت ورزش – Sport Management Review

1. Introduction

A game between two professional sports teams – and the aggregation of these games across the league – comprise the essence of the league product that clearly requires both cooperation and competition on the part of league members (Borland & Macdonald, 2003; Neale, 1964; Rottenberg, 1956). In past work, the complementary nature of a league’s competing firms (teams) has been shown to enhance overall interest in games, ultimately affecting overall franchise and league demand (Xu, Sung, Tainsky, & Mondello, 2015). This could eventually impact league organization, policy, and scheduling that leverages complementarities among otherwise competing franchises.

Rivalry then may play a crucial role to elucidate the complimentary relationship between competing teams in professional sports leagues. In particular, sport is replete with various rivalries, offering a product that differentiates itself from other competitive outcomes in leagues. With the formation of heated rivalry, the reward of defeating a rival may amplify the utility fans obtain from a victory as compared to other league games against non-rivals (Havard, 2014; Mahoney & Moorman, 1999). In general, the formation of sports leagues has allowed the scheduling of games and championships that have prompted the development of systematic rivalries often specific to divisional alignment or geographical location (Blair, 2011).

Ultimately, the organization of a league such that various outcomes have value to consumers – not just for the league championship, but for superiority over other teams and rivals – allows a risk reduction from the perspective of league revenues. Specifically, being high in the standings usually results in higher levels of game interest, particularly if both teams are in a championship race. However, the existence of rivals may mitigate lost revenues when (at least) one team is low in the standings and the match has little to no impact on the outcome of the championship hunt. This possibility raises the question of optimal scheduling such that leagues can maximize overall interest in games where not all teams are serious contenders for the championship.