The Future has Arrived: Factors Influencing Sport and Event Management Undergraduate Students’ Career Outcomes

Abstract

This project explores motivational factors influencing career outcomes of Sport and Event Management undergraduate students at George Mason University. Three motivational factors were investigated throughout this study including undergraduate degrees and associated curricula, faculty mentorship, and fieldwork experiences. These factors were researched in order to discover how both individually and collectively they affect a students’ decision-making regarding career outcomes. A mixed methods convergent parallel research design was implemented for this study. In order to examine the effect these factors have on students’ career outcomes, both alumni and current students of George Mason’s undergraduate Sport and Event Management degree concentrations were interviewed and surveyed. In addition to predetermining the motivational factors, five themes were also fixed for this study. These themes include an undergraduate degree and its associated curricula, faculty mentorship, fieldwork experiences, all three factors combined, and other factors indicated by the participants. This study confirms that the three factors indeed play a role separately, but collectively as well. The most influential factor determined in this study was fieldwork experiences. However, the three motivational factors altogether shape career outcomes by allowing students to identify not only their strengths and weaknesses, but their passions as well. This in turn helps students make those important post-graduate decisions and determine a career path.