Major Motivation: What Motivates Students to Select Sport Management as Major?

While there has been quite a bit of research aimed at how and why students select a college major, there has been very little inquiry into the reasons students choose a major in sport management. While some majors have seen a decrease in enrollment such as leisure and recreation management (Sibon, 2011) sport management has shown steady growth. Having a better understanding of the reasons this is occurring provides valuable information for recruitment, advisement and program development. Forty undergraduate students completed a Q sort of 28 statements describing a range of motivations for choosing sport management as their major. These 40 sorts were factor analyzed and five distinct factors emerged which we named: Motivated To Have Sport Be a Continuing Influence, Motivated by the Business of Sport, Motivated to Help Others Develop Through Sport, Motivated by Concrete Career Opportunities in Sport, and Motivated by Desirable Vocational Characteristics in Sport. Implications for preparation programs and student academic and career development were also explored.