Date of Publication

Fall 12-15-2016

Document Type

Undergraduate Project

Professor's Name

Dr. Emily Dane-Staples

Abstract

In the field of sport management, internships have been shown to be an important factor in the initial placement in the sport industry. Previous work has cited both design elements and the experience itself as being critical to internship success or failure. As the SJFC program requires two distinct required experiences, the purpose of this study was to explore the impact of these experiences on recent graduate’s confidence levels. Through survey data it was uncovered that participants who indicated a higher satisfaction with their final internship were more likely to end up in a career similar that of their last internship. Additionally, qualitative and quantitative data highlighted the design factors, such as learning opportunities and task variety as a very important factor in determining internship effectiveness. Qualitative data confirmed that many different aspects played a role in the effectiveness of the internship, but what it came down to was the experience itself. Sport management program faculty, current and potential students, and internship supervisors would find this information useful due to the insight this study provides.

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