Study Abroad’s Impact on U.S. Sport Management Students

in Sport Management Education Journal

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Carrie W. LeCrom Virginia Commonwealth University

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Brendan Dwyer Virginia Commonwealth University

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Gregory Greenhalgh Virginia Commonwealth University

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DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1123/smej.2018-0003
Keywords:
cultural understanding; education abroad; global mindedness; world mindedness
In Print:
Volume 12: Issue 2
Page Range:
90–99
Restricted access

As society looks to identify globally minded citizens and leaders to move us forward, sport and education have a leading role to play. The sport industry is unique in how globally focused it is, and therefore, it is critical that sport management students be well prepared for this world. Study-abroad experiences for sport management students have the ability to aid in their development as world-minded individuals. The current study sampled students from four sport management programs participating in study-abroad programs over a 3-year time frame. The pre- and posttest results on a scale of global mindedness revealed no significant differences before and after studying abroad; however, there were significant differences between the five factors of global mindedness. Reasons for these potential findings, related to the theory of reasoned action, are discussed, as well as how this study can be built on in future iterations.

The authors are with the Center for Sport Leadership, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA.

LeCrom (cwlecrom@vcu.edu) is corresponding author.
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