Applying Holland’s Vocational Choice Theory in Sport Management

in Sport Management Education Journal

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David PierceIndiana University—Purdue University Indianapolis

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James JohnsonBall State University

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DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1123/smej.2016-0015
Keywords:
intercollegiate athletics; personality; person–environment fit; sport management careers; vocational counseling
In Print:
Volume 11: Issue 2
Page Range:
72–87
Restricted access

Holland’s vocational choice theory is used in vocational counseling to aid job seekers in finding occupations that fit their personality based on Holland’s RIASEC typology of personalities and work environments. The purpose of this research was to determine the Holland RIASEC profiles for occupations within the sport industry by having employees in intercollegiate athletics complete the Position Classification Inventory. Results indicated that the three-letter Holland code for the sport industry is SEC. The sport industry is dominated by the Social environment, evidenced by seven occupations possessing Social in the first letter of the profile and Social rating in the top two letters for all occupations. Seven occupations were primarily Social, three were Realistic, two were Enterprising, and two were Conventional. A multivariate analysis of variance was also conducted to compare differences between occupational disciplines on the six Holland environments. Implications for sport industry occupations and the application of Holland’s theory are discussed.

David Pierce is with the Department of Tourism, Conventions, and Event Management, Indiana University—Purdue University Indianapolis, Indianapolis, IN. James Johnson is with the School of Kinesiology, Ball State University, Muncie, IN.

Address author correspondence to David Pierce at dpierce3@iupui.edu.
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