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‘Belonging' within White male-dominated sports business management programmes
Sport, Education and Society
... The underrepresentation of women in EXSS academia is shaped by complex and multifaceted barriers; however, understanding these barriers is crucial for advancing gender equity in EXSS (Burton, 2015;Lesch et al., 2023;Naidu-Young, 2024;Pielichaty et al., 2024;Taylor et al., 2018;Williams et al., 2022). One prominent barrier is the existence of a "boys' club," often described as a "men's patriarchal support system" that directly benefits men through career-advancing opportunities, such as inclusion in research projects (Howe-Walsh & Turnbull, 2016), nomination for awards (DeLisi, 2021), and professional mentorship (Bagilhole & Goode, 2001), while excluding women (Bagilhole & Goode, 2001). ...
... Existing research has predominantly addressed specific aspects of the field, such as gender disparities in EXSS authorship (Cowan et al., 2023) and conference representation . Additionally, much of the work exploring women's experiences is concentrated in specific subdisciplines of EXSS, such as sport management (Pielichaty et al., 2024;Taylor et al., 2018), social sport science (Lesch et al., 2023) or has focused on specific demographics of women (Shin et al., 2024). While conceptual contributions have provided important and valuable insights into these issues (Cunningham, 2008;Sveinson et al., 2022), there is a gap in empirical research that takes a broad and global perspective on the lived experiences of women across EXSS academia. ...
... Our examination of women's experiences is grounded in the recognition of EXSS being a man-dominated field, with evidence of women's underrepresentation in various subdisciplines (Lesch et al., 2023;Naidu-Young, 2024;Pielichaty et al., 2024;Taylor et al., 2018;Williams et al., 2022). Historically, the foundation of EXSS is based on male anatomy and physiology 1 as the default (Costello et al., 2014). ...
Background : Women are underrepresented in exercise and sport science (EXSS) academia, particularly in senior and leadership positions. This underrepresentation stems from systemic and cultural factors that limit career progression and opportunities for women. Understanding these barriers is crucial for fostering diverse leadership, equitable mentorship, and inclusion within EXSS academia. This mixed-methods study investigates (a) why fewer women hold senior positions in EXSS academia and (b) the key opportunities and constraints influencing women’s professional experiences and career trajectories, using a feminist–institutional theoretical framework. Methods : A 100-item online survey was completed by 341 women, and 10 remote focus groups were conducted with a subsample of 37 participants. Survey topics included current employment, work–life balance, mentorship and leadership, and academic productivity. Focus groups provided deeper insights into women’s experiences. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, group comparisons, and reflexive thematic analysis. Results : Three themes were generated from the mixed-methods data: (a) stereotyping, characterized by the undervaluing of traditionally female qualities and the expectation to adopt traditionally masculine traits for career progression; (b) (in)visibility of women, characterized by the need to advocate for other women, and exclusion from men-dominated networks; and (c) denial or survival, reflecting a belief in meritocracy and acceptance of double standards between women and men in academia. Conclusion : These findings highlight perceived systemic barriers to women’s inclusion in EXSS academia. To foster equitable advancement, institutions and organizations along with men in EXSS academia should improve workplace culture through targeted policies, training, and mentorship initiatives.
Background : Although gender parity exists at the PhD level within exercise and sport science academia, there is a lack of women in senior leadership roles. This global, mixed-methods study, conducted in 2024, aimed to (a) investigate the specific challenges women face related to family and home responsibilities and (b) examine the demographic characteristics of women working in exercise and sport science academia. Methods : As part of a larger project, participants completed an online survey and follow-up focus groups. This study specifically reports on data from 36 survey items that focused on childcare responsibilities, division of household labor, career concessions, and perceived impact of family on career progression. Focus groups provided deeper insight into these topics. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, group comparisons, and reflexive thematic analysis. Results : Three hundred and forty one participants completed the online survey and 37 participated across 10 focus groups. Three themes were generated from the mixed-methods data: (a) (in)visibility of women, characterized by the perceived hypervisibility of women during pregnancy and their invisibility during postpartum; (b) denial or survival of the internal pressure to manage professional and family responsibilities; (c) assumption that Woman = Mother reflecting the common social perception that all women want to be mothers, and those that do not have child caring responsibilities can be called on during nontraditional working times. Conclusion : Findings suggest that women still face family-related challenges in exercise and sport science academia that hinder their career progression.
Drawing from Strayhorn’s model of educational sense of belonging and Vaccaro and Newman’s model of belonging for privileged and minoritized students, this study utilized a mixed-method approach to examine to what extent students from minoritized groups feel like they belong in the sport management classroom. Significant differences in sense of belonging were found based on visible identities such as gender or race. In addition, our qualitative data revealed five higher-order themes that positively or negatively impacted students’ sense of belonging across identity groups: (a) representation, (b) community, (c) support, (d) accomplishments, and (e) academic and professional experience. Limitations, implications, and directions for future research are discussed.
New first-year students are vulnerable to dropping out of university because the transition into higher education (HE) is difficult to navigate. Using thematic analysis, we analysed focus groups/interview, exit interviews and qualitative survey data with university students during their first year as criminology undergraduates to explore how they transitioned into HE. Findings show that the transition to a new identity of ‘university student’ was hampered by feelings of awkwardness, which prevented students from fully integrating into student life. However, the subject of criminology was a protective factor because interest in the topic and wanting a degree for betterment, including for future career plans, buffered students against dropping out. We argue that subject-specific interventions may be better in supporting the retention of students and that addressing physical, social and academic awkwardness is key.
Objective:
A sense of belonging-the subjective feeling of deep connection with social groups, physical places, and individual and collective experiences-is a fundamental human need that predicts numerous mental, physical, social, economic, and behavioural outcomes. However, varying perspectives on how belonging should be conceptualised, assessed, and cultivated has hampered much-needed progress on this timely and important topic. To address these critical issues, we conducted a narrative review that summarizes existing perspectives on belonging, describes a new integrative framework for understanding and studying belonging, and identifies several key avenues for future research and practice.
Method:
We searched relevant databases, including Google Scholar, PubMed, Scopus, PsycInfo, and ClinicalTrials.gov, for articles describing belonging, instruments for assessing belonging, and interventions for increasing belonging.
Results:
By identifying the core components of belonging, we introduce a new integrative framework for understanding, assessing, and cultivating belonging that focuses on four interrelated components: competencies, opportunities, motivations, and perceptions.
Conclusion:
This integrative framework enhances our understanding of the basic nature and features of belonging, provides a foundation for future interdisciplinary research on belonging and belongingness, and highlights how a robust sense of belonging may be cultivated to improve human health and resilience for individuals and communities worldwide.
This article offers a rethinking of a fundamental area of higher education research and practice: the concept of belonging. Extending the considerable international research attending to belonging, we suggest that normative narratives often contain a number of omissions. Such omissions include a consideration of the experiences of those students who may not wish to, or who cannot, belong, as well as a questioning of the very boundaries of belonging. Crucially, our reconceptualisation occurs within the context of the post-Covid-19 times in which we now live. Such times have seen a rapid move to emergency remote teaching, and, we suggest, offer an opening in which belonging can no longer be taken-for-granted as uniform and, as located within fixed times and spaces. Engaging generative concepts from the work of Massey, and Braidotti, and drawing upon Adam’s notion of timescapes, we propose a reframing of belonging as situated, relational and processual. Within this lens, belonging can be understood as a sociomaterial practice that shifts within, across and beyond online and face to face timespaces. At the end of this article, we examine the implications of such a reframing for educators seeking to develop belonging, and we also offer suggestions for further research.
The right to the city: outdoor informal sport and urban belonging in multicultural spaces Studies on 'everyday multiculturalism' and 'lived multiculture' have advanced knowledge on the kinds of inclusive everyday spaces and practices that characterise our culturally complex, mobile and superdiverse cities. This paper expands this agenda by exploring informal sporting and leisure interactions amongst migrant and ethnically diverse urban populations. Embedded in a larger comparative city project that examines how urban environments and wider social structures mediate inclusions and exclusions of urban dwellers, this paper presents a case study of temporary migrant workers in Singapore and their participation in outdoor informal sport. It deploys Lefebvre's notion of 'Right to the City' to understand city dwellers' access to urban resources and their collective ability to democratically inhabit the city. Despite structural constraints imposed on marginalised migrants, the nature of informal sport, the spontaneous coming together to play, creative use of public space and a range of convivial practices, generate a sense of urban belonging.
Identifying as a “science person” is predictive of science success, but the mechanisms involved are not well-understood. We hypothesized that science identity predicts success because it fosters a sense of belonging in science classrooms. Thus, science identity should be particularly important for first-generation and racial-minority students, who may harbor doubts about belonging in science. Two field studies in college Introductory Biology classes ( Ns = 1368, 639) supported these hypotheses. A strong science identity predicted higher grades, particularly for minority students. Also consistent with hypotheses, Study 2 found that self-reported belonging in college mediated the relationship between science identity and performance. Furthermore, a social belonging manipulation eliminated the relationship between science identity and performance among minority students. These results support the idea that a strong science identity is particularly beneficial for minority students because it bolsters belonging in science courses. Practical and theoretical implications are discussed.
This paper presents a systematic structured review of recent research that explicitly adopts intersectionality as a theoretical framework to interrogate how tertiary institutions manage, cater for, include, exclude and are experienced in ways that produce advantage and disadvantage. The analysis addresses the following questions: Within research that uses intersectionality, what aspects of the HE context are the focus? What methodologies are employed and how do these contribute to the production of knowledge? What vectors of identity are included? We find that gender appeared as the primary identity with which other dimensions of difference were combined to produce intersectional positions. Furthermore, case study and auto-ethnographic designs were primary approaches. This systematic literature review of 50 papers demonstrates that, when considering the workings of multiple systems of (dis)advantage, academic participation is intertwined with social and personal aspects of the HE experience. While intersectionality challenges the dominant instrumental view of HE, our review concludes that there is considerable work to be done to actively address the workings of intersecting systems of inequity impacting on participation and outcomes of students and faculty.
Objective: We investigate how (a) attendance at sport games and (b) identification with a sport team as fans (i.e., team identification) influence older adults’ perceptions of emotional support, belonging, and subjective well-being (SWB). Method: An experimental pilot study was conducted with 50 older adults, followed by a main survey study administered to 534 older adults from various communities across the United States. Results: Pilot study results indicated that game attendance and team identification had a positive and significant influence on older adults’ perceptions of emotional support from fellow team fans. These results were replicated in the main study, which also showed that older adults’ perceived emotional support from fellow fans was positively associated with their sense of belonging which predicted their SWB. Discussion: The findings provide insights into how older adults may be engaged in meaningful forms of social life to help them maintain and enhance mental health.
Given the challenging transition from secondary school into higher education, this quasi-experimental study measured the effects of a pre-academic programme (i.e. before starting at university) on student–faculty interactions, student–peer interactions, sense of belonging, and first-year academic performance. Fifty-eight first-year students participated in a pre-academic programme (i.e. the experimental group) focused on changing their perceptions of effective learning behaviour to enhance high-quality interaction with peers and faculty, their sense of belonging, and academic performance. A control group comprised 237 first-year students who did not attend the programme. Participation in the programme enhanced formal student–faculty and student-peer interactions, as well as informal student-peer interactions. No effect was found on sense of belonging. Furthermore, participation in the programme enhanced students’ attained grade during the first course and enhanced their first-year cumulative GPA. The results suggest that participation in the pre-academic programme could give students a head start in higher education.
Previous research that evaluated first year students’ transition into university found that the values of ‘being, belonging and becoming’ were important in particular within the first few months and within the first year of university. From our previous work, we reported that three things matter to students: the academic staff they work with, the nature of their academic study and the feeling of belonging. This paper provides a further illumination to our work by reporting on the qualitative data collected in the same study. The study included 530 students from five cohorts over a five-year period. As part of the Student Experience Evaluation instrument, open-ended questions probed students about their early experiences of belonging and transition into university. This original research uses rich data to illuminate the scales and items from previous quantitative data analysis to explore ‘belonging’, triangulated with research from the field. This paper is timely due to increased emphasis placed on learning and teaching with the introduction of the Teaching Excellence Framework. Student satisfaction is not a simplistic measure and this study articulates the complexity of student belonging in Higher Education.
Report to HEFCE, now Ofs, on why some students perform worse at university than others and some suggestions for improving the situation.
Ethnicity, race, social class, disability, attainment gap, differential outcomes, differential progression,
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the position of sport management education (SME) in relation to employment in the sport fitness industry and if a shift towards a greater emphasis on business and management module teaching is justified or conversely a greater utilisation of the rich data being generated by sport management researchers can be applied to the vocational development of sport management students.
Design/methodology/approach
The study was conducted in two parts. Part 1 consisted of interviews with the author by an interviewer to explore their industry experiences, the author’s experience of entrepreneurial sport industry business and intrapreneurial sport teaching. The resultant data have been distilled into a series of paradigms, including employing sport industry staff and teaching sport management. Part 2 triangulates part 1 with the managerial experience of sports and leisure centre managers to develop a qualitative study. Sports and leisure centre managers were interviewed regarding candidate and employee competences judged as extreme examples of sport management knowledge and understanding.
Findings
Four themes emerged, such as alignment, underpinning subject-specific knowledge, a voice from the sport industry in developing SME and postgraduate opportunities for work-based learning.
Research limitations/implications
A small-scale study that requires further research in each of the three areas: sport spectator, sport participation and elite performer management.
Practical implications
The sport centre interview instrument, with some refinements, could form the basis of an improved system to gain rich data from industry members of higher education business advisory groups. The developed data collection tool could increase the effective collection of data from a wider cohort.
Originality/value
The approach has produced an adapted category of pedagogy. Employability inspired teaching (EiT) is an original terminology describing the subject-specific content that leads to improved opportunities for subject (sport) industry employment.
Sport is a white male-dominated, multi-billion-dollar industry characterized by a lack of racial and gender diversity among its leaders. To advance the field of sport management it is crucial to study what members of privileged social groups think about diversity and how they articulate their own responsibility in increasing diversity in sport. This article reports the findings of a focus group study with 22 heterosexual white male undergraduate sport management majors at a Southern midsized public master’s institution. Participants shared perceptions regarding diversity in sport management and the sport industry, women in the field, meritocratic hiring policies, and about their own responsibility to affect change. Sport management faculty and administrators should challenge white men in their programs to interrogate and understand their privileges and to commit to realizing their responsibility in making sport more diverse and more socially just.
As undergraduate sport management programs continue to grow and expand in the United States, and with the recently developed Commission on Sport Management Accreditation (COSMA) accreditation guidelines for such programs, it is important to examine the current status of undergraduate sport management curricula in the U.S. The purpose of this study was to provide an overview of each program’s curriculum and other program components such as the school/college in which each program is housed, program name, and degree(s) offered. A total of 227 undergraduate sport management programs were identified and examined using a content analysis methodology. Results revealed the percentage of programs offering specific sport management courses, as well as significant differences between programs based on the school in which the program is housed, the status of the university (public or private), and the university size. These findings, along with recommendations for future research, are presented in the discussion and conclusion sections.
We discuss how to move the family studies field and the teaching of family theories from covering the “facts” that LGBT-parent families exist to a critical conversation that incorporates conceptual tools, language, and theoretical insights from queer and intersectionality theories. We attempt to move this conversation by presenting a model of curricular change for teaching family studies theories courses that shifts from LGBT-parent exclusion, compensatory addition of LGBT-parent families, and LGBT-parent families as disadvantaged to a focus on queer and intersectional scholarship and a continuing postmodern paradigm shift. We discuss how instructors can engage in critical feminist-oriented self-reflexivity and transformational pedagogy.
Using data from 15 semi-structured interviews with UK-based early/mid-career academics, this paper offers an empirically informed assessment of how lecturers teaching/researching the sociology of sport are managing their careers in a changing higher education landscape. Those interviewed were involved in the delivery of sociological content to a range of sports-themed courses with the interviews focusing on the changing fashions in studying sport (including a rapid increase in enrolment on certain sports-themed courses), and on the nature of the relationships with colleagues working in the same area (i.e. sport), but who teach/research it from a different discipline. The paper draws upon the processes of individualisation which lay at the root of reflexive modernisation to better understand the lived experiences of those interviewed. Using the metaphors of tribes, doors and boundaries, I assess the extent to which those interviewed felt there were opportunities for an interdisciplinary pedagogic approach to ‘sport’. The paper explores the relationship between the sociology of sport and its parent discipline (i.e. sociology) and where it might feature in a future (post-disciplinary?) landscape.
The business case for diversity is increasingly being recognised. However, worldwide women are still under-represented at the executive level. The notions of employability and career adaptability are examined in the context of female sport management graduates, to better understand why they are not attaining leadership positions in New Zealand sport. A phenomenological paradigm using a mixed-method approach was adopted, including a survey and interviews. The findings suggested that whilst graduates were employed, there was a disconnect between university preparation and the skills required for women to be leaders within the sector. Graduates displayed career adaptability by moving out of the sector. In order to prepare and retain female graduates in the sector, curriculum design needs to acknowledge the impact of gender on employability and career adaptability.
As part of my doctoral research into the impact of retention strategies on part-time, mature undergraduates in English higher education (HE), this paper interrogates the discourse of 'belonging', prominent in retention literature. A 'sense of belonging is considered critical to both retention and success' (Thomas 2012:1) an approach influenced by Tinto's interactionalist theory of student departure (1975) which highlights integration and congruency as conditions of student persistence. The multiple identities of part-time, mature undergraduates, cross-cut by age, gender, race and class, position them on the periphery of HE. This potentially restricts their access to means of belonging recognised and validated in dominant institutional discourses. The paper problematises 'belonging', employing Brah's concept of diaspora (1996) and Massey's spatial concepts to support and enrich a Bourdieusian analysis. In doing so, it works in 'theoretical borderlands' (Abes, 2009:190) extending theoretical territory to capture the complexities of part-time, mature undergraduate studentship.
Questions abound in the literature and in practice about how best to advance social justice among groups who are content to ignore the chorus of marginalized voices pressing for social change. This qualitative study of 20 community-based practitioners explored how to assist the transformation of privileged learners on issues of race, class, and gender when they are in the training rooms. Pedagogy for the privileged presents an opportunity to enhance the effectiveness of adult educators who work with privileged learners on a daily basis in antiracism and diversity training, human rights development, leadership training, sensitivity training, and organizational development workshops. This article describes how grassroots educators understand the transformation process, including its ethical dimensions, and presents a new model for this pedagogy based on confidence shaking and confidence building.
The purpose of this paper was to investigate a model for describing the relationships between the extent to which learning
environments are activating and students’ interaction with teachers and peers, sense of belonging, and study success. It was
tested whether this model holds true for both ethnic minority students and ethnic majority students. A total of 523 students
from four different universities completed a questionnaire. Structural equation modeling (Amos) was used to test the model.
The model that best describes the relationships in the group of ethnic minority students (N=145) was shown to be different than the model that best fits the group of majority students (N=378). Ethnic minority students appeared to feel at home in their educational program if they had a good formal relationship
with teachers and fellow students. Ethnic minority students’ sense of belonging to the institution nevertheless did not contribute
to their study progress. On the other hand, in majority students, informal relationships with fellow students were what led
to a sense of belonging. In these students, the sense of belonging did further academic progress.
KeywordsSense of belonging-Teacher interaction-Peer interaction-Study success-Active learning-Ethnic background
Stigmatization can give rise to belonging uncertainty. In this state, people are sensitive to information diagnostic of the quality of their social connections. Two experiments tested how belonging uncertainty undermines the motivation and achievement of people whose group is negatively characterized in academic settings. In Experiment 1, students were led to believe that they might have few friends in an intellectual domain. Whereas White students were unaffected, Black students (stigmatized in academics) displayed a drop in their sense of belonging and potential. In Experiment 2, an intervention that mitigated doubts about social belonging in college raised the academic achievement (e.g., college grades) of Black students but not of White students. Implications for theories of achievement motivation and intervention are discussed.
In this article we apply theoretical tools from the work of Elias and Connell to critically discuss the ways in which gender relations on Higher Education sport courses are manifested and experienced by students. Drawing on data from an analysis of curriculum, as well as interviews, surveys and workshops with students across a range of sport courses at one university, we explore curriculum design and the ways in which knowledge is presented which both marginalises and compartmentalises issues of gender, as well as presenting knowledge as gender neutral. This article provides a critical understanding of how knowledge about gender and women's sport features and is taught in UK Higher Education sport courses, alongside how students experiences in the classroom to provide an understanding which reinforces existing gender regimes and gender relations.
This article provides a comprehensive review of the socio-economic literature on the student determinants of tertiary education dropout, in order to help research scholars better understand this phenomenon. Empirical findings are framed within a theoretical model that analyzes higher education choices and prospective outcomes in a dynamic setting, where informative issues (emphasized by the economic literature) and relational ones (emphasized by the sociological literature) are crucial to predicting students' achievements. Our review suggests that student university persistence/attrition depends on a mix of individual, institutional, and economic factors, the effects of which on the dropout decision are mediated by a student's ability to integrate into the academic system. Some factors are given, and their effects are valuable only in a descriptive perspective. Others, instead, can be manipulated by the decisionmakers in the tertiary education system and, as such, are more interesting from the policymaker's viewpoint. In particular, all interventions aimed at fulfilling the initial informational gap of students and at improving their integration into academic and social life are key to study success.
This study aims to explore the main aspects of sense of belonging, including academic and social engagement, life satisfaction, thoughts of leaving university, demographic characteristics and socio-economic status by applying quantitative measurement. Having considered the concepts of disadvantaged or non-traditional groups deployed in previous studies, a survey questionnaire was designed to investigate how certain factors are related to students’ belonging. Statistical analysis of data from 380 participants reveals that students’ sense of belonging and retention are crucially influenced by both academic engagement and social engagement, but independently. This study also addresses a lack of research about how the critical factors for disadvantage operate to determine belonging and retention in higher education. The findings should prompt a re-evaluation what we consider to be the sources of ‘disadvantage’, such as social class, age and ethnicity.
Research demonstrates the benefits of educating for social justice in Physical Education Teacher Education (PETE) programs. This body of research shows that social justice pedagogy enables student teachers to create a sense of social agency and community purpose in their teaching that positions them with more certainty when facing the political and professional hurdles embedded in a teaching career. The social justice perspective allows PETE educators and student teachers to work together in order to become conscious of the power structures in society that lead to social inequities. Although there are comprehensive studies on social justice and critical pedagogy in PETE, there is much to learn about how PETE educators conceptualize and practice critical pedagogy. Particularly in Brazil, there is limited research that confronts and analyses data from the myriad of emancipatory pedagogical PETE practices around the country, in order to turn those practices into a coherent body of critical narratives and shared knowledge. The purpose of this paper is therefore to explore the challenges, struggles and pleasures that two PETE educators faced in understanding and enacting critical pedagogy in Brazil. A theoretical framework based on Freire's critical pedagogy is employed to discuss the complementary narratives presented in this paper. We proclaim our hope that critical pedagogy might point to some avenues for political democratic struggles in a moment when public Education in Brazil is under severe attack promoted by the right-wing forces that currently sit on the presidential and the ministry of Education chairs.
In the context of the global migrant and refugee crisis there is considerable enthusiasm for the notion that participation by migrants of refugee background in community sport can play a role in fostering a sense of community belonging. Sport potentially is an opportunity for refugees to integrate (with each other and host communities). Community sports organisations in the UK - and specifically sports clubs - continually face challenges to devote resources to social policy outcomes beyond increasing sport participation. This article argues that the active approach of coaches, volunteers and managers to consciously manage inclusive sport activities is central for the integration of refugees. Utilising a mixed methods approach, this study analysed the impact of one sports club that used table tennis to promote the active integration of refugees. The study found three significant areas of impact: first, an active approach from coaches can facilitate integration; second, such an approach should be conducted in a safe, enjoyable and welcoming environment; and that sport is a positive social activity for youths with a refugee background if the focus of the activity centres on fun and social interaction, rather than just sporting skills.
In 2006, psychologists Virginia Braun and Victoria Clarke published a paper entitled Using thematic analysis in psychology in Qualitative Research in Psychology. The paper sought to provide guidance, for psychology colleagues and students, on the conceptualisation, considerations and practice of thematic analysis (TA). Their paper proved unexpectedly popular, both within their discipline, and beyond. In the subsequent years they have written an award winning and best-selling qualitative research textbook Successful Qualitative Research (Braun & Clarke, 2013), numerous chapters (e.g. Braun & Clarke, 2012; Braun et al., 2014a, 2014b, 2015, 2016; Clarke & Braun, 2016), encyclopaedia entries (Clarke & Braun, 2014a, 2014b), commentaries (Braun & Clarke, 2016, 2019; Clarke & Braun, 2018) and editorials (Braun & Clarke, 2014; Clarke & Braun, 2017), and created a website (https://www.psych.auckland.ac.nz/en/about/our-research/research-groups/thematic-analysis.html), about TA, as well as written chapters and papers (e.g. Braun et al., 2017b; Clarke & Braun, 2019), and co-edited a book and a special issue related to other aspects of qualitative research (Braun et al., 2017a; Braun, Clarke, Frith & Moller, 2019). Over this time, their thinking around TA has evolved and they have encountered, and been frustrated by, many misuses and misrepresentations of their original paper. Early in 2019, Nikki Hayfield – who also writes and teaches around TA and has co-authored several chapters with them (Braun Clarke, Terry & Hayfield, 2019; Clarke et al., 2015; Terry et al., 2017) – interviewed Ginny and Victoria, asking them to reflect on these topics, and on their process, practice and thinking as TA proponents. The following edited transcript of their conversation highlights the context for writing their 2006 paper, some of the assumptions about qualitative research they made in writing this paper, their responses to misrepresentations and misunderstandings of their approach to TA, and their reflections on the importance of interpretation in TA.
Despite the benefits of diversity amongst sport leaders increasingly being argued by both researchers and practitioners, English sport governance remains gender-imbalanced at all levels of leadership. Within this article, we aim to explore how informal organisational practices within two established English national governing bodies impact upon gender equity and gender balance within their governance. This is important to raise awareness of the power of informal organisational practices to favour one gender over another. We present findings generated through a multi-method qualitative approach of semi-structured interviews and participant observation. Official documents from the two organisations were also drawn upon to add specific detail or fill information gaps during the collection, analysis and write-up of data. Throughout the article, we draw upon Bourdieu’s theory of practice to focus on the ways in which cultural resources, processes and institutions hold sport leaders within gendered hierarchies of dominance. We found that informal organisational practices contribute to the reinforcement of gendered structures of dominance which privilege (dominant) men and masculinity, and normalise and naturalise the positions of men as leaders. Some examples of resistance against inequitable informal practices were also evident. Drawing upon Bourdieu’s theorising, we highlight that alternative practices must be valued more highly by the organisation than current problematic practices in order for them to become legitimised, habitual and sustainable. We suggest that one way of achieving this is by linking gender-equitable governance to organisational values and performance to provide motivation for organisations to make genuine, sustainable change.
Since initially writing on thematic analysis in 2006, the popularity of the method we outlined has exploded, the variety of TA approaches have expanded, and, not least, our thinking has developed and shifted. In this reflexive commentary, we look back at some of the unspoken assumptions that informed how we wrote our 2006 paper. We connect some of these un-identified assumptions, and developments in the method over the years, with some conceptual mismatches and confusions we see in published TA studies. In order to facilitate better TA practice, we reflect on how our thinking has evolved – and in some cases sedimented – since the publication of our 2006 paper, and clarify and revise some of the ways we phrased or conceptualised TA, and the elements of, and processes around, a method we now prefer to call reflexive TA.
Earlier research has shown how football media use specific racial/ethnic stereotypes, thereby reinforcing certain hierarchies along the lines of race and ethnicity. We use a cultural studies perspective to explore the discourses surrounding race and ethnicity in football among Dutch multiethnic football media audiences when they talk about football. We have interviewed 30 participants in five focus groups to collect our data. Our analysis shows that everyday football talk mainly reproduces racial/ethnic stereotypes and everyday racisms, and that race and ethnicity intersect with other markers of difference like nation, culture and religion in the discourses people draw on. Which specific difference is prioritized depends on context and interview questions. Furthermore, our analysis shows that ethnic diversity is celebrated and supported but that this support is conditional and combined with reinforcing biologically and culturally informed racisms. Findings are discussed in a wider academic and societal context.
Students’ sense of belonging is known to be strongly associated with academic achievement and a successful life at university. To achieve a comprehensive understanding of belonging, this study collected data via the 10 Words Question. Responses from 426 participants were analysed using a sequence of analytic methods including In Vivo coding, systematic coding, clustering, and contingency analysis. The results show that, in addition to academic and social engagement, there are two additional domains of belonging which are often neglected: surroundings and personal space. Surroundings equate to participants’ living space, and geographical and cultural location, while personal spaces refer to life satisfaction, life attitudes, identity and personal interests. Both positive and negative data demonstrate the complex and multi-dimensional character of belonging in higher education. The study concludes that policies for student engagement in higher education should reflect all four domains to support the full range of students’ experiences.
The focus on identity has enjoyed a certain permanency within sports studies research, and the relationship between athlete identity and sport is complex and nuanced. Ordinarily literature on girls’ and women’s football (soccer) tends to focus on gender identities rather than identities per se. The purpose of the current paper is to address this issue and examine the way in which player identities are negotiated within the game. A season-long critical ethnographic exploration undertaken across three sites (football academy, school and family homes) underpins the research design for this exploration. It was found that the football self is managed and organised differently depending on the centrality of football within the lives of the women and girls who play. The development of the Football Self Continuum examines identity shifts vis-à-vis life transitions and football commitment. Identities are viewed in both hierarchical and fluid terms dependent on whether the player has a ‘salient’ or ‘contingent’ football self. This research has useful implications for coaches, family members and National Governing Bodies with regard to understanding and therefore supporting player identity changes in relation to life transitions.
Male undergraduate sport management majors substantially outnumber females, suggesting that the path to a career in the sport industry is male dominated and gender stereotypes may exist. Simultaneously, there is a dearth of research on females' experiences while enrolled in higher education and within sport management career development. Through qualitative focus groups conducted at two institutions with female sport management majors, this research sought to understand the barriers and sources of support that female students perceive while engaged in this academic discipline. The authors identified four themes- otherness, roles and credibility, prior experiences, and people of influence-all of which help illuminate the lived experience of gender bias among women in the sport management major and generate suggestions for the creation of more inclusive environments that foster persistence.
There is a significant lack of diversity within the teaching population nationwide that reflects historical, political, and institutional racialized inequality. In the context of physical education, ethnic minority teachers often report feeling ‘different,’ marginalized, and struggle to negotiate the dominant school culture they feel they do not belong to. Purpose: To explore how race and gender intersect in the lived experiences of ethnic minority female PE teachers in predominantly white schools in the United States. Methods: This study used narrative and visual research methods. Results: Participants often felt isolated and uncomfortable in their educational contexts, actively seeking out other ethnic minorities to make meaningful connections and validate their lived experiences. Discussion: The intersection of race and gender in participants’ embodied identities reflects sexist and racist systems in which white privilege is positioned as normal or universal. PE and PE teacher education programs must actively work to disrupt and destabilize these norms.
Sport is a space possessing a permissive rape culture due to its masculine culture, and male-dominated professions have higher levels of sexual harassment and incivility compared to those industries that are gender equal or female-dominated. This research examined sport management students’ education and training on sexual harassment and sexual assault. Findings demonstrate that less than 50% of students are exposed to education on sexual harassment (46.1%) or sexual assault (35.9%) in the classroom, and less than 40% are exposed to training on sexual harassment (39.6%) or sexual assault (28.4%) in the internship setting. Students may be entering the professional workforce without the proper knowledge and training in regards to these issues.
In recent years there has been growing interest over the role of major sport events and the sports industry. The aftermath of 2008 global crisis exposed the myth of “end of history” and raised several questions over the role of management and organisational practices and theories in all aspects of human activity, including sport. This article reviews the emergence of Critical Management Studies (CMS) as a field within management and organisational studies. We focus on Critical Performativity Theory (CPT) as a key concept of re-configuring managerial practices. We add our voices to those asking for more critical output in sport management and point out the potential contribution of CMS in sport and especially of CPT. Finally, we propose “Student as Producer” as a pedagogical framework to act as a possible basis for incorporating critical theories into higher education teaching. We argue that this framework can contribute significantly towards providing future graduates with the skills and knowledge to enable them to deal with the contemporary challenges of modern sport’s industry and wider society.
Using grounded theory methods, the authors examined how LGBPQ students developed a sense of belonging during the first year of college. Sense of belonging transformed and deepened over the year and was fostered in three different contexts: university, group, and friendship. It was influenced by sexual identity and outness, university messaging, and meaningful social interactions with groups and authentic friends. The authors offer four theoretical propositions that can be utilized by researchers and practitioners.
Higher education administrators have called on faculty to strategize ways in which to fill classroom seats, as well as recruit and retain diverse students. Understanding current student populations should be of increasing importance to sport management faculty as new programs are established at colleges and universities each year. A sample of 330 sport management students from introductory sport management courses at six different schools was surveyed to identify factors influencing their selection of a sport management major. Results indicate students select the sport management major because they have an interest in sport and working in the sport industry. Program quality and program convenience were also important selection factors. Women had lower salary perceptions and minority students had lower perceptions across most selection factors. Understanding these factors can help programs tailor their marketing and recruiting efforts in an effort to develop a more diverse classroom and workforce.
‘A refreshingly critical contribution to the major debates in sports studies, this volume will nicely complement the conventional texts. The entries are well structured, introducing and explaining the arguments, and then applying them to current sports policies and controversies. I admire the material and will recommend it to my students’ — Professor Dave Harris, University College Plymouth, Marjon Written by experienced academics use to teaching the subject, this book will help students and researchers find their way within the diverse field of sport studies. Clear, well researched entries explain the key concepts in the debates surrounding the social significance and social dynamics of sport. Each entry provides: Clear Definitions Relevant Examples Up-to-date Suggestions for Further Reading Informative Cross-Referencing Valuable in its parts and indispensable as a whole, this book will provide a stimulating, practical guide to the relationship between sport and society. © Stephen Wagg, Carlton Brick, Belinda Wheaton and Jayne Caudwell 2009.
The concept of identity has become widespread within the social and behavioral sciences in recent years, cutting across disciplines from psychiatry and psychology to political science and sociology. All individuals claim particular identities given their roles in society, groups they belong to, and characteristics that describe themselves. Introduced almost thirty years ago, identity theory is a social psychological theory that attempts to understand identities, their sources in interaction and society, their processes of operation, and their consequences for interaction and society from a sociological perspective. This book describes identity theory, its origins, the research that supports it, and its future direction. It covers the relation between identity theory and other related theories, as well as the nature and operation of identities. In addition, the book discusses the multiple identities individuals hold from their multiple positions in society and organizations as well as the multiple identities activated by many people interacting in groups and organizations. Finally, it covers the manner in which identities offer both stability and change to individuals. Step by step, the book makes the full range of this powerful new theory understandable.
This paper explores the implications and affects of a level two compulsory module concerned with 'gender, difference and leisure' on a predominantly male student group studying for sports-related degrees. Participant observation was undertaken by a male and female lecturer who were delivering the module. A cohort of male football students were interviewed as a group, and individual interviews were undertaken with female students. The opinions and expressions of the students are also located in the significant subculture of the collegiate footballer researched by one of the authors. The paper draws attention to the ways in which young male students negotiate their male identities collectively and the implications this has for theirs and other's learning in HE. The findings show that many of the male football students, in particular, attempted to resist knowledge that challenged dominant male behaviours and threatened the project of patriarchy as a whole, such as the hegemonic patterning of the collegiate football subculture. While this resistance was beset with tensions, evidencing some opposition to gender ideologies at an individual level, at least, social identities constructed around gender and 'race', especially, were clearly disruptive in the development of critical awareness to such issues. The data presented here highlights a number of pedagogical problems that arise from these complex sets of interrelated identity issues, not least the need for lecturers to develop greater critical awareness of masculine and racial identities and to reflect upon their methods of delivery of contested knowledge.
The concept of fitting in at a particular college has been linked to student persistence. Studies have identified habitus and cultural capital, psychosocial factors associated with a student’s fit at a particular institution. This study examined the dimensions of precollege psychosocial factors, determined the extent to which those factors were reflected in students’ college choices, and established the effects those factors exert on measures of student satisfaction. Overall, students choose colleges where they experience comfort, acceptance, and fit.
In this essay, the researchers explore the careers of four foundational figures in sport management, who received training as historians. Drawing on a wide range of primary and secondary sources, we illustrate how Earle Zeigler, Guy Lewis, Stephen Hardy, and Lawrence Fielding helped create the field of Sport Management with insights drawn from business historians, especially those at the Harvard Business School. Overall, we claim that sport business history can serve to help frame much of the field and is vitally relevant to the study of the sports industry. Furthermore, we advocate that the study of history be included as a prominent area within sport management curriculums. To support this assertion, we elucidate the importance of the historical case-study approach to sport management.
This study examined sense of belonging among a national sample of 2,967 first-year students. Guided by the work of Hurtado and Carter (1997), relationships between several aspects of the college environment and sense of belonging were examined. Findings indicated that African American, Hispanic/Latino, and Asian Pacific American students reported a less strong sense of belonging than White/Caucasian students. The social dimensions of the transition to college and residence hall climate and perceptions of the campus racial climate had strong significant relationships to students' sense of belonging. Implications for practice and future research are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Critical pedagogy in sport management education: Rationale, issues and implications for practice
- S Baines
- Baines S.
What matters in college student success? Determinants of college retention and graduation rates
- M Millea
- R Wills
- A Elder
- D Molina
- Millea M.
EDI challenges in higher education
- H E Advance
Is gender on the international agenda? Female representation and policy in international sport governance
- J Matthews
- L Piggott