Career paths in sport management: trends, typology, and trajectories.

Problem Statement Higher education is one of the most significant steps in preparing students for entry into the workforce in sport management. To understand the nature, trends, and trajectory of career paths in the modern landscape of sport management, the authors reviewed the literature and analyzed empirical datasets to define career paths, understand and explain current trends, and propose dimensions to classify career pathways in sport management. Approach A set of unstructured hand-written essays was collected in December 2021 on the topic "My career pathway in sport management" (N = 45; M = 90 min) from M1 students from the sport management program at the University Paris Saclay. Data analysis was performed after data collection. First, the authors evaluated the literature to provisionally define themes and dimensions for the analyses and read the essays several times. Second, we perused all the data, synthesized the literature, and collected the data (essays, N = 39). The authors deductively coded essays using profound in-line analysis with color highlights and by systematizing the data. Then, we manually iteratively analyzed the observed literature, preliminary findings, and full dataset to build typology and get insights. Purpose This study has three main aims: (1) to understand and describe how sport management students understand and foresee their career pathways and outline main trends; (2) to develop a typology of career paths in sport management and propose the classification dimensions, relying on the students' vision; and (3) to propose guidelines for sport education management based on the typology of student paths in order to straighten learning environments in sport management higher education institutions. Results This study extends the body of literature on career development and education in sport management, and the obtained findings can be also applied to other fields (e.g., management, tourism, finance, and marketing). Further, this study helps to understand sport management students' current needs and adjust education methods, programs, and strategies. Conclusions For sport management students, there are different reasons to choose this field as a career path such as passion for a particular sport, general interest in management, participation in sports (professional or amateur), background, motivations, and experiences that may lead students to consider working in the sport management industry. The authors propose dimensions to classify the sport management career path: sport vs. management; clarity of path; work modes and lifestyle as a career determinant, roles, fields, functions; dependency on external circumstances; and geographical map for a career path. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]