European Journal of Physical Education and Sport Science
ISSN: 2501 - 1235
ISSN-L: 2501 - 1235
Available on-line at: www.oapub.org/edu
Copyright © The Author(s). All Rights Reserved.
© 2015 – 2018 Open Access Publishing Group 1
doi: 10.5281/zenodo.1745501
Volume 5 │ Issue 2 │ 2018
THE DEVELOPMENT AND EMPLOYMENT STATUS OF
SPORTS MANAGEMENT CAREER AND
THE CASE OF TURKEY
Tuba Yazıcı
i
,
Settar Koçak
Department of Physical Education and Sports,
Middle East Technical University,
Ankara, Turkey
Abstract:
Sport management as a young academic discipline experienced remarkable
development throughout the world. This improvement has enhanced the need of sport
management professionals, and career positions of sport management has received
much interest. Therefore, universities have attempted to develop sport management
curricula at the undergraduate and graduate levels in order to meet the needs of
professionals who are specifically trained in sport management discipline (Tripathi,
2013). In recent years, the number of institutions of higher education in sport
management has grown around the world. As a young academic discipline, this
remarkable development throughout the world has not been without challenges,
problems and controversies (Jones, Brooks, & Mak, 2008). One of the most recently
perceived and stated concern is that there are excessive numbers of sport management
graduates, which limit employment opportunities. In this regard, aims of this study
were to: (1) Provide an overview of the development of sport management programs
throughout the world and in Turkey, (2) provide a descriptive critique of sport
management graduates' employment status and graduate's employment perceptions in
Turkey. For this purpose, a comprehensive literature review was performed with
regard to the development and employment status of sports management discipline.
Keywords: sport management, employment, graduate, history, growth
1. Introduction
The sport industry is one of the fastest developing industries in the world (Gillentine,
Crow, & Harris, 2009). In line with the sport industry, the sport management academic
discipline has improved over the last 50 years since the establishment of the first sport
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European Journal of Physical Education and Sport Science - Volume 5 │ Issue 2 │ 2018 2
management program at Ohio University in 1966 (Laird, 2005; Masteralexis, Barr, &
Hums, 1998). This development has increased the need for training of sport
professionals throughout the World (Tripathi, 2013), and career positions has received
much attention in the sport industry (Gillentine et al., 2009). Universities have
attempted to develop sport management curricula at the undergraduate and graduate
levels in order to meet the needs of professionals who are specifically trained in sport
management discipline (Tripathi, 2013). In recent years, the number of institutions of
higher education in sport management has grown around the world. Many students
enter academic programs in sport management each year to prepare for a future career
in sport (Gillentine et al., 2009). According to Parkhouse and Pitts (2004) sport
management discipline has been ‚one of the fastest growing areas on college campuses‛ (p.
3). The number of sport management programs rose from 20 in 1980 to over 200 by the
year 2000 in North America (Mahony, Mondello, Hums, & Judd, 2006). According to
the North American Society for Sport Management (NASSM, 2013), there were over 300
degree programs within the United States alone. Number of universities and colleges
has increased to 426 in 2013 (Chen, Adams-Blair, & Miller, 2013). Society’s’ developing
involvement in sport has led to advancing interest in sport management as a career. As
a consequence, across the United States, approximately 24,000 undergraduate students
major in sport management in a given year (Hancock & Greenwell, 2013). There was an
almost 82% increase in the foundations providing sport management programs in
solely seven years (Mathner & Martin, 2012).
Sport management education is relatively young discipline in Australia, the first
degree programme was introduced in 1991 (Smith & Westerbeek, 2004). Smith and
Westerbeek identified 37 public and 2 private universities, 10 institutions offer three-
year, full-time bachelor degrees in sport management in 2004 in Australia. Smith and
Westerbeek reported that approximately 1,500 students were accepted into some form
of sport, recreation management bachelor degree or major each year. This exceeds
exercise science which is the most intended sport-related topic studied in Australia. The
demand and need for sport management major continues to grow persistently while
exercise science is decreasing in terms of student interest (Smith & Westerbeek, 2004).
In Turkey, sport management department was established within schools of
physical education and sports in 1993. Today, approximately 38 universities have sports
management departments. Total number of sport management undergraduate students
was 1155 in 2006 (Yıldız, 2008). Number of sport management students who have been
accepted to sport management programs including the distance education was
increased to approximately 5779 in 2015 in Turkey (www.osym.gov.tr).
Many reasons contributed to the development of sport management as a major.
For example, students are attracted to a career in sport by the glamor related to the
image of working for a professional team whose games appear on television and sport
has increasingly being part of the entertainment industry (Kjeldsen, 1990). For any
occupation the image is not always represent the reality, the image of a sport career as
well (Kjeldsen, 1990). As a young academic discipline, this remarkable development
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throughout the world has not been without challenges, problems and controversies
(Jones, Brooks, & Mak, 2008). One of the most recently perceived and stated concern
regarding sport management academic discipline is that there are excessive numbers of
sport management programs. Hence, there are too many sport management graduates
which constrain employment opportunities and salaries for those who wish to work
within sport industry (Mathner & Martin, 2012; Minten & Forsyth, 2014). Since growing
number of sport management departments are established each year, and the
marketplace becomes more competitive, understanding current sport management
student populations is vital for the discipline (Hancock & Greenwell, 2013).
Investigation of the sport management programs and employment issues is essential for
potential students and for the future improvement of sport management discipline as
well. Besides, employment of sport management graduates is associated with meeting
the physical activity needs of society, providing high quality sport programs,
organizations, and sporting events. In Turkey, however, sport management graduates
cannot be employed appropriately. There is a huge gap between number of sport
management graduates and the ones who can be employed with sport related jobs. A
big contradiction in Turkish sport system is that although more than 40.000 physical
education and sport department graduates cannot be appointed in Turkey (Ziyagil,
2014). In Turkish sport organizations, 90% of the managers were not graduated from
sport related areas since 1989 (Yetim & Şenel, 2001).
A criticism on employment studies is that graduates’ expectations and graduates’
perspective is scarce in the literature. Studies has focused on the perspective of
universities employers, and government; meaning that their views have dominated the
debate (McKeown & Lindorff, 2011). There are few research from the perspective of
graduates and how graduates make the transition from higher education to careers
(Minten & Forsyth, 2014). Several articles were published throughout the 1980s and
early 1990s on topics of sport management career preparation (Brassie, 1989), sport
management curricular evaluation and needs assessment (DeSensi, Kelley, Blanton, &
Beitel, 1990). However, most of these studies were consisted of syllabus and curriculum
and these studies lacked the student or alumni attitudes and opinions (Popp, Weight,
Dwyer, Morse, & Baker, 2015).
It is very important to support students' career paths so that they can pursue
their educational interests as well as deciding realistically about their future career
alternatives (Schwab, Dustin, Legg, Timmerman, Wells, & Arthur-Banning, 2013). Since
the hope and hopelessness about our future have an important role on our personal
productivity (Çiftçi, Gökçel, & Demirkıran, 2015), employment expectations of the
university students both affect their school and business success (Çiftçi et al., 2015).
Therefore, individuals’ perceptions about their employment after graduation have
significant importance on their productivity. In order to shed light on sport
management students’ perceptions with regard to their employment status in Turkey,
empirically conducted studies were reviewed. Aims of this study were to: (1) Provide
an overview of the development of sport management programs throughout the world
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European Journal of Physical Education and Sport Science - Volume 5 │ Issue 2 │ 2018 4
and in Turkey, (2) provide a descriptive critique of sport management graduates’
employment status and graduate’s employment perceptions in Turkey. In order to
reach the intended purpose, related articles were reviewed.
2. Method
In the current study, a comprehensive literature review was performed with regard to
the development and employment status of sports management discipline. The
information gathered from secondary sources including, library documents, websites,
institutional sources and development plans of Turkey were scanned to identify
relevant information. The search of the literature was conducted with Ebscohost,
SPORTDiscus and Eric library databases for the years up to 2017. The search terms were
‚sport management employment‛, ‚sport administration employment‛, ‚sport
marketing employment‛, ‚sport management history‛, ‚sport management career‛,
‚sport management development‛. The search was also conducted in Turkish with the
same words. Additional studies were obtained from the reference lists of relevant
articles, which were very helpful to reach potentially relevant sources that were not find
out by the electronic search strategy.
The worldwide development of sport management academic discipline
Globalization of the sport industry is speedily proceeding. This growth necessitates
sound administrative practices, as well as individuals who are educated specifically for
the unique nature of the sport industry (Gillentine et al., 2009). Thus, the enhanced
popularity of sport, and the demand for an efficient management of all resources in that
sector, may clarify why sport management, both as an academic discipline and as a
professional occupation, has experienced such remarkable growth (Soucie, 1998).
In an attempt to meet this need of a specialized knowledge base and skills in
sport management, educational institutions have established sport management degree
programs (Kim, 2012). Since the first sport management program initiated in 1966 at
Ohio University there have been notable increases in the number of both undergraduate
and graduate sport management degree programs (Kim, 2012). Before sport
management became an academic discipline, great sports individuals such as Walter O’
Malley, president and chief stockholder of the Brooklyn Dodgers Baseball Club, were
actively campaigning for an academic program which specified to train professionals to
manage sport (Jones et al., 2008). The first sport management master’s degree program
was established at Ohio University in 1966, by Dr. James G. Mason (Jones et al., 2008).
In 1957, Walter O'Malley predicted the future development of sport industry and
anticipated the need for professional sport administrators. O'Malley wrote a letter to Dr.
James Mason, a faculty member at Ohio University, stating the following: ‘I ask the
question, where would one go to find a person who by virtue of education had been
trained to administer a marina, race track, ski resort, auditorium, stadium, theatre,
convention or exhibit hall, a public camp complex, or a person to fill an executive
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position at a team or league level in junior athletics such as a Little League baseball,
football, scouting, CYO, and youth activities, etc< A course that would enable a
graduate to read architectural and engineering plans; or having to do with
specifications and contract letting, the functions of a purchasing agent in plant
operations. There would be problems of ticket selling and accounting, concessions, sale
of advertising in programs, and publications, outdoor and indoor displays and related
items.’ (Mason, Higgins, & Wilkinson, 198, p. 44). The questions in this letter explicitly
describe the human resources needed within the sport industry. As a result of that
inquiry, Mason and his colleagues founded a master's-level sport administration
program at Ohio University in 1966 (Brassie, 1989). It was the first endeavor to prepare
students for jobs in sport-related areas. Afterwards, Saint Thomas University provided
the first undergraduate level sport management program and the University of
Massachusetts established the second master’s degree program in 1971 (Baker &
Esherick, 2013). The South Carolina program was also important because it was
developed as an independent sport management department, which is not affiliated
with a physical education and recreation department (Gillentine et al., 2009).
The idea caught on, since the first master’s sport management program initiated
at Ohio University, the number of sport management graduate and undergraduate
degree programs has increased steadily (Yiamouyiannis, Bower, Williams, Gentile, &
Alderman, 2013), and continue to gain growing popularity in the last five decades. By
1978, there were 3 sport management undergraduate programs and 20 graduate
programs in the United States (Parkhouse, 1978). In 1992, the total number of degrees
offered by universities, including associate, bachelor, masters, and doctorate, totaled
567 in the United States (Lambert, 1999). By 1995, the number more than doubled to
1,173 degrees (Lambert, 1999). Sport management programs’ number increased to over
250 programs by 2001 (Kim, 2012). Thoma identified 23 programs in Europe, 8 in Asia, 3
in Africa, and 1 in Oceania in 1993 (Soucie, 1998). North American Society for Sport
Management (NASSM), identified 166 universities which offer sport management
education in 2003 in United States (Jones et al., 2008). Smith and Westerbeek reported 37
public and 2 private universities, 10 institutions that offer three-year, full-time bachelor
degrees in sport management in 2004 in Australia. According to the NASSM website in
2009, there were 382 sport management programs including; 219 Bachelors, 140 Masters
and 23 Doctoral programs in the United States (Haan, 2011). Sport Management
education is also developing on the global scale. In 2015 international sport
management program identified by NASSM has raised to 79, nearly doubling the
number of program in 2003 (Zhang, Wang, Min, Chen, & Huang, 2016). Furthermore,
some international programs were not included in NASSM's statistics. For instance,
more than 20 Chinese educational foundations offer the sport management major
degree in 2015, but NASSM included only one university into its list (Zhang et al.,
2016). In 2014, there were 429 undergraduate sport management programs, 253 master’s
programs, and 40 doctoral programs in Africa, Australia, Canada, China, India, New
Zealand, Singapore, Taiwan, the United Kingdom (UK), and the United States which
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are identified by NASSM (Masteralexis et al., 2011). As the numbers indicate, quantity
of sport management programmes has improved to a great extent over the years.
The growth of sport management academic discipline in Turkey
Sports management has emerged as an academic course with the establishment of the
first sports academies in Turkey. Sport academies were first established with the goal of
raising physical education teachers, coaches and sports managers in 1974-1976
(Mirzeoğlu, 2015). Two departments took place within sport academies. These were;
physical education and sport science and sports management departments. In sports
management department, management science, sports organizations, Turkish sports
organizations, sports facilities management, planning and budget and public relations
etc. lessons were taught (Yetim & Şenel, 2001). Considering taught courses, sports
management graduate students had a good infrastructure in the field. However, the
closure of the youth and sports academies in 1982 has led to a significant reduction in
the sources of sports administrators in Turkey (Yetim & Şenel, 2001). Along with the
1982 Council of Higher Education Law, sport academies were closed and existing
students were combined to education faculties’ physical education teacher departments
(Mirzeoğlu, 2015). Therefore, those institutions turned into physical education teacher
training institutions, which were a loss for sport management discipline in Turkey
(Mirzeoğlu, 2015). In 1984 and afterwards, graduate training started at universities such
as Gazi University and Marmara University (Mirzeoğlu, 2015). Although there were no
programs directly in the field of sport management, important contributions were made
to the field with the conducted thesis studies (Mirzeoğlu, 2015). University departments
of physical education and sports has received high school status in 1992 which
provided the establishment of several sport related departments within these high
schools such as coaching, sport management and recreation (Aktağ & Alpay, 2015).
Sport organization and management was appeared as a separate department among the
five departments. Thus, sports management has become an independent department
for the first time with the establishment of the physical education and sports school.
Five departments were established within Hacettepe University including; sport
education; training and movement sciences; sports health; psychosocial areas in sport;
and sport organization and management (Mirzeoğlu, 2015).
Establishment of the sports sciences association in 1990's and the start of sports
sciences congresses, followed by the publication of physical education and sports
sciences journals, the researchers had the opportunity to share their studies (Mirzeoğlu,
2015). In sport sciences, 149 Master’s, 46 PhD theses and 249 peer reviewed articles a
total of 444 studies were completed from the years between 1992 to1996 in Turkey
(Açikada, 1997). Considering the distribution of these studies; with 153 studies (34.4%)
training and movement sciences was the most, with 49 studies (11%) sport organization
and management was the least studied areas (Açikada, 1997). Number of universities,
which has sports education, was increased 10 to 39 universities between 1990 to 1998
academic years (Açikada, 1997). The first sport management master’s program was
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begun in Abant Izzet Baysal University in 1997. A sport management doctoral program
was opened in the same university in 2002 (Mirzeoğlu, 2015). Today, approximately 38
universities have sports management departments. Total number of sport management
undergraduate students was 1155 in 2006 (Yıldız, 2008). Number of sport management
students who have been accepted to sport management programs including the
distance education was increased to approximately 5779 in 2015 in Turkey
(www.osym.gov.tr).
Employment in Sport Management Career and Employment Opportunities
In spite of the fact that, there are many job opportunities in sport, the competition for
these positions has been and will remain severe and many of them has very low salaries
in comparison to the amount of work expected (Tripathi, 2013). Job duties may vary
with the area of the sport industry, type of organization, and level of management but
all entail business aspects of sport (Tripathi, 2013). There are many benefits associated
with working in sport management jobs. Such as, the chance of working with
individuals who share a common bond of the love of sport provides a pleasing work
setting and health and wellness advantages are usually great in this field (Tripathi,
2013). On the other hand, the rapid growth of the number of sport management
departments and excessive number of student intake, has led to a situation where the
number of sport management graduates exceeded the number of available career
positions, which resulted in unemployment. It is essential to analyze the sport
management job climate. Students should be given realistic descriptions of the job
climate in order to generate perceptions which assist them to successfully entering the
field (Stockdale & Cormier, 2014). Besides, this will allow instructors to tailor the
curriculum to enable the students to develop valuable knowledge and skill (Stockdale &
Cormier, 2014).
Several articles were published throughout the 1980s and early 1990s on the
topics from career preparation (Brassie, 1989), sport management curricular evaluation
and needs assessment (DeSensi et al., 1990). However, most of these studies were
consisted of syllabus and curriculum and these studies lacked the student or graduate
opinions (Popp et al., 2015). Several authors have investigated job opening rates in sport
management, sport management programs and the necessary qualification criteria for
candidates for these positions, field’s professorial position announcements and sport
management doctoral programs were investigated (e.g., Jones, Brooks, & Mak, 2008;
Mahony, Mondello, Hums, & Judd, 2006; Pedersen, Fielding, & Vincent, 2007; Pedersen
& Schneider, 2003; Pedersen, Whisenant, & Schneider, 2005). However, all of these
studies were related to academic positions in sport management.
Schwab et al., (2013) addressed the shortage of available careers in sport
management. Authors found that most sport management students desire to work in
sport as entertainment, however students’ specific career goals are ill-defined. On the
other hand, Smith and Westerbeek reported that sport management jobs have been
rising in Austria over the last decade, jobs reached top in the 2000 Sydney Olympics,
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after then the level dropped temporarily and has recovered. Most of the work in the
sport management is in the event and facility management sector, which operate with a
business orientation rather than performance development (Smith & Westerbeek, 2004).
Timmerman, Schwab, Wells, and Dustin (2012), found that approximately two thirds of
sport management graduates ended up working in sport, and after a period of time that
number was reduced to one-third. Graduates, who remain in the sport industry,
reported that their love of sport was a primary motivation for staying in the sport field
(Schwab et al., 2013). In a parallel study of Schwab, Legg, Tanner, Timmerman, Dustin
and Arthur-Banning (2015) conducted with sport management alumni from five
universities that offer undergraduate sport management programs revealed that 63% of
the respondents had worked in sport management, at some point since graduation.
Nevertheless, of that 63%, 38% reported that they were no longer working in the sport-
related field. The primary reasons given for leaving the sport field were limited job
opportunities and low salaries. Parks (1991) examined the employment status of alumni
of a large sport management program. Author conducted the study to understand
demographic information, placement strategies, positions, and salaries, graduate school
status. Results revealed that as time progressed from graduation, more alumni were
moving out of the field. Respondents also revealed that job placement was dominated
by personal contacts, which is especially true for male alumni. Furthermore,
respondents’ salary related data showed that the sport industry underpays with
compared to other industries. These studies reveal that employment rates of the
graduates from sport related fields have been decreasing by passing years after
graduation. Some of the sport management graduates quit their jobs because of
dissatisfaction from the job opportunities. Kjeldsen (1990) examined sport management
careers from a descriptive standpoint. The ones who left the field complained about
little opportunity for advancement, low pay, unsustainable workloads and poor
leadership. On the other hand, Parks and Parra (1994) examined job satisfaction of sport
management alumni. They investigated whether there would be a significant difference
between job satisfaction scores of graduates who were employed in sport-related
positions and the scores of graduates who were employed in positions unrelated to
sport. The results revealed that sport management graduates who acquired
employment in areas other than sport may have approximately equal prospects of
attaining job satisfaction as graduates who were employed in sport-related areas (Popp
et al., 2015). In Schwab et al (2013) research, students were asked what areas in sport
management appealed to them, students’ responses demonstrated various interests.
Seventy percent (70%) reported an interest in athletic administration, 62% in personnel
management, 57% in marketing, 47% in public relations, 42% in coaching, 32% in
recreational sport programming, and 18% in retail. Authors also investigated the
reasons to choose sport management as a major and they found that most of the
students loved sports and wanted to work in the industry (89%), enjoyed watching
sports, (69%) or enjoyed playing sports (67%), (48%) of the students reported that they
were interested in issues with regard to sports. Some of the students reported an
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interest in sports because of the many perceived job opportunities (39%) or students
reported their interest towards community-based programming (16%). Mathner and
Martin (2012), examined sport management students’ perceptions of career expectations
compared with perceptions of sport management practitioners. Students’ perceptions
were compared to the practitioners’ perceptions. Significant differences were found
between practitioners and student groups when examining the time, it would take to
find an entry-level sport management job. Students perceived a shorter time period as
adequate to find an entry-level sport management job with compared to practitioners.
Significant results were reported in number of months necessary to reach upper-level
management positions, salary perceptions, expected competencies in the field and time
to find an entry-level job.
DeSensi et al., (1990) examined university faculty/student evaluation of sport
management programs, employer evaluation of educational sport management
programs and curricula and employer expectations of sport managers. Employer
evaluations revealed that there should be accreditation in order to better prepare
students for the job expectations of the sport industry. Because there were differences in
the expectations of sport managers in different settings. Sleap and Reed (2006)
examined the views of physical education and sport science graduates with regard to
the developed work skills at university. The authors find out that according to
graduates, university process had helped them to improve interactive and personal
skills rather than business specific skills. Cunningham and Sagas (2004) noted that a
sport management internship program reduced students’ intent to enter a sport
occupation. Authors indicated that results were likely due to disconfirmation of
expectancies. Students may have an incorrect perception of the sport industry and they
were less eager to work in sport after gaining real sport management experiences. The
researchers recommend that academicians and advisors should provide students with a
realistic preview of the sport industry. Although providing such
information, sport management departments run the risk of losing potential students,
students will be better equipped to make career choices. Moreover, Cunningham, Sagas,
Dixon, Kent, and Turner (2005) examined the effect of internships on students’ career-
related intentions. Authors found that even though students did not differ at the
beginning of the internship, at the end of the internship interns had less positive
attitudes toward the sport management occupation than did non-interns. Internship
brought a negative perception to previously held positive beliefs about the sport field.
Sport Management Students’ Employment Perceptions in Turkey
Jobs in the sport industry involve numerous skills applicable to the sport setting and
requires specific skills to the increasingly multifaceted and complex areas (Parkhouse,
1991). Therefore, in order to achieve goals in sport, managers of sport organizations
should have adequate background to specific sport setting. A big contradiction in
Turkish sport system is that although more than 40.000 physical education and sport
department graduates cannot be appointed in Turkey (Ziyagil, 2014). In Turkish sport
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organizations, 90% of the managers were not graduated from sport related areas since
1989 (Yetim & Şenel, 2001).
Since the hope and hopelessness about our future have an important role on our
personal productivity (Çiftçi et al., 2015). The business expectations of the university
students both affect their school and business success (Çiftçi et al., 2015). Therefore,
individuals’ perceptions about their employment after graduation have significant
importance on their productivity. In order to shed light on sport management students’
perceptions with regard to their employment status in Turkey, empirically conducted
studies were reviewed. The literature suggests that sport management students may
choose sport management major because of a love for sport and a desire to do
something for their lives, which allowed them to be close to sport (Schwab et al., 2013).
Sibson (2010) stated that "lifestyle, personal interest, and previous sport experience maybe
important in student choices of courses" (p. 384). However, when students asked to specify
their career goals, they were less sure about themselves. It can be inferred that students
may be driven by a general passion for sport more than a particular career goal (Schwab
et al., 2013). For instance, Ardahan, (2010) conducted a study with 156 Turkish graduate
students from sport management major and with 130 undergraduate sport
management students. In the study, 49% of the graduate students and 35.8% of the
undergraduate sports management students reported that when deciding sport
management as a major they were unaware about sport managements’ employment
areas. After graduation 43% of the students were working in different areas than sport
management, 57% stated that they were working in a related field to sport
management. In a study conducted by Taşmektepligil, Hazar, Ağaoğlu, Öğreten, and
Terzioğlu, (2009) with 280 candidate students for physical education and sports high
school and 200 undergraduate students of physical education and sports department in
Turkey, found that expectations about finding a job related to physical education and
sport significantly different according to level of classes. Students’ employment
prospects were getting worse when students come to upper classes. In a survey given to
candidates at the physical education and sport entrance exam, candidates were asked
whether they expect to find a job after their graduation. 68.6% of the surveyed
candidate men and 73.2% candidate women gave positive responses. However,
undergraduate students were not as optimistic as the candidates were. On the other
hand, Turgut, Gökyürek, and Yenel (2004) conducted a study with randomly selected
730 sport management and coaching major students from 11 Physical Education and
Sports high schools in Turkey. They found that 72.3% of the sport management and
coaching students has concerns about their employment after graduation. Besides,
‚Considering the employment problem when you graduated, are you doing alternative
studies?‛ question was replied 51.6% of "yes" which reveals their concerns about their
employment. In a similar vein, Çerez (2004) revealed that 70% of the 4th grade students
of physical education and sport were unsure to recommend the school after graduation.
Authors conclude that student’s reflections were thought to the result of employment
limitation and excessive number of graduates in Turkey. In a parallel study of Çiftçi et
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al., (2015) with randomly selected 150 sport management students, found that most of
the students (40%) think they cannot find a job easily after the graduation, minority of
them (21%) think they can find a job which emphasized employment problems and
futures of the sport management students as a worrying issue in Turkey. Depending on
these results, we can conclude that as sport management students in Turkey approach
their graduation degree, their hopelessness level increases. Sport management degree
candidates have much more hope related to their employment than sport management
major college students. Overall, sport management students in Turkey predominantly
have concerns about their employment.
It is important to understand different individuals from different segments. To
evaluate any situation from different perspectives we need to understand perceptions
of people from varied segments; in a study conducted by Özen, Koçak, Boran, Sunay,
and Gedikli (2012), instructors from departments of physical education and sport were
surveyed. Selected instructors were on the opinion that sports clubs do not employ
enough sport-educated individuals (62.9 %). Most of the instructors (68.6 %) believed
that the ministry organization of Turkey does not employ enough physical education
and sport graduates. Besides, most of the instructors (70 %) were on the opinion that
Turkish Ministry of Youth and Sports staff profile has not adequate educational, socio-
economic and cultural background (Özen et al., 2012). In a study with 11 managers, 34
sports federation employees, 55 sports department students and 89 candidate students
for the department of physical education and sport concluded that public opinion of
sport management profession is not recognized enough in Turkey. Job definition of
sport management is not known by public opinion. Sport management education is not
recognized enough as well (Uyar & Sunay, 2009). Authors are on the opinion that much
more sport managers should be employed in sport clubs in Turkey. In addition,
Ardahan (2010) revealed that 60.5% of the sport management students were willing to
find jobs in private sector because sport management students’ employment chance in
public sector is very limited in Turkey. Students try to find ways to get jobs in private
sector. After reviewing studies with regard to graduates’ employment in Turkey, it was
observed that the rapid increase of the sport management departments and parallel
increase in student intake, has created a situation where the number graduates
surpassed the number of available job positions which caused a high unemployment
situation in Turkey.
3. Discussion
Employment and careers of sports graduates influenced by the country’s educational
and political system, personal characteristics and the industry. The reviewed literature
revealed that there is a disproportion between the number of students who are taken to
sport management higher education and the employment of these students after
graduation. This situation most likely stems from the high number of sports
management education programs. Moreover, the investigated studies revealed that
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employment rates of the graduates from sport management fields has been decreasing
by passing years after graduation. Since, some of the sport management graduates quit
their jobs because of dissatisfaction from the job opportunities.
Students do not start higher education with a clear purpose of working in sport
industry and most of the students form their career goals as they move through higher
education into the post-graduation phase and it is also likely that this career path can
change in varied life phases (Minten & Forsyth, 2014). Job definitions in sport
management are not well defined in Turkey. Career in the sports sector most often goes
from being a star player to being a coach, and from there to being a sporting technical
director (Mirzeoğlu, 2015). Thus, acquiring a job depends on how hard applicant makes
an effort to connect with other people rather than how knowledgeable s/he is
(Mirzeoğlu, 2015).
In the study conducted by Özen et al., (2012) with the sample of academicians,
most of the academicians reported that managers of the General Directorate of Youth
and Sport in Turkey could not correctly determine the national and international goals
of sport between the years of 2004 and 2011. According to the authors, this situation
indicates a problem in determining, forming or implementing sports aims of Turkey. In
addition, inadequacy of communication and cooperation between sport sciences and
sports organizations in Turkey reported by (64.3%) academicians and most of them
(74.4%) have the opinion that academic studies were not pursued by the ministry and
relevant authorities. Academician’s opinions with regard to managers of the General
Directorate of Youth and Sport in Turkey represent inability of the managers in keeping
up with sport related scientific knowledge. This situation most likely stem from
managers who are not graduates of sports management. Indeed, Yetim and Şenel (2001)
reported that 90% of the managers in Turkish sport organizations were not graduated
from sport related areas since 1989.
Duties related to sport management require proficiency in areas such as
coordinating, decision-making, management and marketing, managing conflict, legal
and financial affairs, planning and organizing, leadership, and communicating.
Individuals should have also enough sporting background to apply these skills
appropriately. Therefore, people with the sports background and profession knowledge
have higher ability to evaluate and manage sports than the others (Taşmektepligil, et
al., 2009). Besides, the duration of adaptation is longer for those who come from
different departments and take part in sports business areas (Taşmektepligil, et al.,
2009). Based on these reasons, if priority in the employment is given to individuals who
get a sport management education, most of the problems associated with the
employment of sport management graduates will be reduced to the greatest for Turkey
(Taşmektepligil, et al., 2009).
In fact, advocating a view that all those who manage sports should have physical
education and sports education background does not keep up with the modern
management approach of our time (Uyar & Sunay, 2009). Sports managers who are
equipped with sport and management background from different branches can also
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THE DEVELOPMENT AND EMPLOYMENT STATUS OF
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provide wider perspectives on sports organizations and management by working
together with athletic trainers and sports educators (Uyar & Sunay, 2009). However, it
is an identified problem for Turkey that sport management graduates have very low
employment in the management levels. For this reason, higher chance should be given
to the sports management graduates in the management of sport. Success in sport
depends on good management to great extent. In this regard, management profession’s
importance and necessity should be emphasized and the necessary arrangements
should be made so that the sport management graduates can take more roles in sports
management (Uyar & Sunay, 2009). According to Koçak, Karakılıç and Alay (1999),
inappropriate and inexperienced staff recruiting may be due to the wrong policies of
sport organizations and inexperienced or inadequate staff can cause major problems
within the organization.
In order to achieve success in any profession, one has to be aware of the field’s
employment opportunities, recognize the sector and have the skills required by the
industry (Ardahan, 2010). In this sense, it is an essential task of higher education to help
sport managemet students in understanding sport industry, sport management career
needs and to clarify how sport management students can found career opportunities. In
particular, opportunities for work experience were beneficial to make career aims
clearer, as well as developing valuable skills with regard to future employability
(Minten & Forsyth, 2014). Involvement in the industry during the education process
will provide students a better understanding of the employment. In doing so,
employment opportunities can also be created while the students are still in school via
the agreements with the industry (Ardahan, 2010). Hence, internship opportunities
should be provided for students. Cooperation should be arranged between the
university and the industry in order to introduce the business world to the students and
students can have job experience by this way. In addition, students may be able to
realize their strengths and weaknesses before they graduate and they can improve these
weaknesses. Field-specific courses should be included in the curriculum of applied
courses. Regarding the employment of graduate students, necessary arrangements
should be made by the Ministry of Labor and Social Security.
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