Career Decision-Making Self-Efficacy at Super Bowl LIII 

Career Decision-Making Self-Efficacy at Super Bowl LIII 

Abstract

The present study surveyed sport management students who volunteered at Super Bowl LIII to examine the effects of mega-event volunteering on career decision-making self-efficacy (CDSE). Results suggest that volunteering at mega-events such as the Super Bowl, increased CDSE and that upper-class students and females self-reported greater CDSE than under-class students and males, respectively. Thus, program directors and sport management staff at major sport organizations should consider collaborating to enhance student involvement in order to more effectively prepare the next generation of sport management professionals.

Keywords: mega-event volunteering; career decision-making self-efficacy; professional development; Super Bowl

Introduction

While mega-event volunteers have many different motives, Ledford, Mitchell, and Scheadler (2018) noted that sport management students were mostly motivated to volunteer at Super Bowl LII for professional development (PD). It is important to explore, then, if mega-event volunteering satisfies this motivation. Thus, the purpose of the study was to examine the effects of mega-event volunteering on career decision-making self-efficacy (CDSE) and will likely be useful for sport management internship supervisors and program directors.

Greater CDSE, the belief in one’s capabilities to make career-related decisions (Hackett & Betz, 1981), improves grades, persistence, and perceived career options (Lent, Brown, & Larkin, 1986) and self-esteem, goal-setting, problem-solving, planning, and self-appraisal (Gianakos, 2001). These skills strengthen CDSE and may be fostered by internship and volunteer experiences. Internships/volunteer experiences boost critical thinking skills and commitment to one’s chosen career path (Assante, Huffman, & Harp, 2010), expand social networks (Tse, 2010), improve problem-solving skills (Busby & Gibson, 2010), and enhance autonomy (McManus & Feinstein, 2014). Similarly, Lee and Chao (2013) and Wang, Chiang, and Lee (2014) discovered that internships provide a more thorough understanding of sport management careers, making it easier for them to adjust to related careers post-graduation.

Badura’s Self-Efficacy Theory (1977, 1986, 1997) explained that CDSE can be increased by focusing on performance accomplishments, which are identified via previous successes and then can be generalized to other related current and future scenarios to make one more comfortable with the current task, thus enhancing CDSE.

Due to the popularity and short-lived nature of mega-event volunteering, sport management students may have more positive attitudes and experience more enjoyment when they volunteer at mega-events when compared to their lesser-known internships. Therefore, mega-events may also foster performance accomplishments. Specifically, mega-events have a unique opportunity to provide students with an example of a performance accomplishment, especially since such events are popular in mainstream media. This may satisfy the motivation to use a mega-event for PD. In addition, it is likely that, as one nears graduation, one is more likely to contemplate future careers and become more motivated to seek out PD opportunities. Therefore, the following hypotheses were formulated:

H1: Volunteering at Super Bowl LIII will increase CDSE in sport management students.

H2: Upper-class students (i.e., juniors and seniors) will self-report greater CDSE than under-class students (i.e., freshmen and sophomores).

H3: Students that volunteer more hours will self-report greater CDSE.

Methods

The sample in the current study consisted of 28 student volunteers (M = 21; F = 7) from a small liberal arts college in southwestern Ohio and included freshmen (n = 8), sophomores (n = 9), juniors (n = 4), and seniors (n = 7). However, only 24 students (M = 19; F = 5) completed the post-assessment in addition to the pre-assessment and included freshmen (n = 5), sophomores (n = 8), juniors (n = 4), and seniors (n = 7). The students involved in this study volunteered at the National Football League (NFL) Experience located at the Georgia World Congress Center, which provided patrons NFL-themed games and activities. This is a regular experience for students at this institution and many students choose to participate in multiple experiences during their time as students. For this specific event, students volunteered at interactive games such as youth clinics, a current NFL player or retiree autograph station, punt/pass/kick event, hail-mary event, the 40-year dash, field goal kick event, and Lombardi trophy photograph station. Some students worked as line security, other students worked the interactive games, while other students checked in fans to participate in the interactive games. Moreover, students worked Super Bowl LIII game day as wayfinders by greeting fans at parties and provided information and directions to patrons.

Student volunteers completed a questionnaire prior to reporting to shifts at the NFL Experience. One of the researchers administered and collected questionnaires at the NFL Experience volunteer meeting, minimizing the chance of a low return rate. Participants also completed identical post-event surveys to assess the changes in CDSE.

Participants completed the Career Decision Self-Efficacy Scale-Short Form (CDSES-SF; Buyukgoze-Kavas, 2014). The CDSES-SF consists of 18 items (e.g., “how much confidence do you have that you could determine the steps you need to take to successfully complete your chosen major?”) measured on a 5-point Likert-type scale (1 = No Confidence at All; 5 = Complete Confidence). It is worth noting, though, that the original CDSES-SF consists of 25 items, but was shortened to 18-items due to the irrelevancy of seven items to the present study. For example, the participants were all sport management majors and, thus, did not need to be questioned on the ability to select a major.

In addition to the CDSE, participants also reported how much they have volunteered (in hours) in the last 12 months. Options included 0, 1-10, 11-20, 21-30, 31-40, and 50 or more hours. The question did not however, investigate the types of events at which the volunteer hours were spent.

Results

The internal consistency reliability (Cronbach’s alpha) of the questionnaire was α = 0.907, well above the 0.70 commonly accepted threshold for reliability (Nunnally, 1978). The data were summarized and analyzed using independent sample t-tests. Post-hoc analysis was also used to analyze differences amongst the classes.

H1, which predicted that CDSE would be higher in post-assessments (M = 3.99 SD = 0.68) than in pre-assessments (M = 3.86; SD = 1.06), was supported, t = 2.14, p < 0.05. In other words, CDSE increased after volunteering at Super Bowl LIII.

H2 predicted upper-class students (M = 4.34; SD = 0.47) would have higher CDSE than under-class students (M = 3.75; SD = 1.23). H2 was also supported, t = -7.054, p < 0.001. Post hoc Tukey analysis showed significant variations within each of the classes and not just between upper- and under-class students.

While the mean CDSE for freshman (M = 3.82, SD = 1.14) was not significantly different from sophomores (M = 3.73, SD = 0.28), t = 1.75 p = 0.33, it was significantly lower than the mean CDSE for juniors (M = 4.06, SD = 0.74), t = -3.37, p = 0.01 and for seniors (M = 4.25, SD = 0.78), t = -4.62, p < .001.

In addition, the mean CDSE for sophomores was statistically different from juniors t = -6.91, p < 0.001 and seniors, t = -8.50, p < 0.001. And finally, juniors and seniors had statistically different CDSEs, t = -1.274, p < 0.05. Taken together, these results suggest that class rank impacts CDSE.

The final hypothesis, H3, predicted that the number of hours volunteered would have a positive impact on CDSE. To run a t-test, we compared participants who completed at least 30 volunteer hours in the last 12 months (M = 3.98, SD = 0.09) with participants who completed less than 30 volunteer hours in the last 12 months (M = 3.82, SD = 0.035). Students that had volunteered at least 30 hours reported greater CDSE than those volunteering less than 30 hours, t = -2.38, p < 0.01. Therefore, H3 was supported.

Also, further analysis revealed gender as a significant factor contributing to CDSE. Females (M = 4.20) had greater CDSE when compared to males (M = 3.85), t = 5.51, p < 0.001.

Discussion

The purpose of the present study was to explore how volunteering at Super Bowl LIII affects CDSE. Ledford et al. (2018) found that sport management students were primarily motivated to volunteer at Super Bowl LIII because of the unique opportunity for PD. The present study provides initial evidence that students who volunteer at a mega-event satisfy their motivation to volunteer at the mega-event.

First, the present study revealed that CDSE increased after volunteering at Super Bowl LIII. Perhaps, as could be argued with Self-Efficacy Theory (Bandura, 1986), experience at a mega-event provides students with a perceived performance accomplishment. More specifically, volunteering at a mega-event may inflate one’s beliefs in one’s own skills and knowledge because they have now participated at one of the most elite stages in sport. In other words, students might think that if they have what it takes to participate at a mega-event, then they can be successful in the field of sport management.

Similarly, upper-class students may have more experience in sport management considering they have been in the program longer, and thus, completed more sport management-related coursework and internship hours. Therefore, because upper-class students likely have more sport management experiences, they likely have more successful sport management experiences, providing them with a longer history of performance accomplishments to boost CDSE. For the same reason, those who commit to more hours of volunteering may have greater CDSE because they may have more experiences, which would explain why students with a greater number of hours spent volunteering had higher CDSE than students who volunteered less.

It is also noteworthy to recognize that the present study did find gender differences in CDSE—female volunteers self-reported greater levels of CDSE than their male counterparts. This is really interesting considering the sport industry is dominated by men (e.g., Burton & Leberman, 2017). It may be easy for women to feel undervalued in sport (e.g., Burton, Grappendort, & Henderson, 2011; Kanter, 1977), which would likely decrease one’s CDSE; however, the women in this study experienced greater CDSE. Perhaps, women in this study experienced heightened empowerment because they not only gained a perceived performance accomplishment, but also because they did so when they were a minority. In other words, breaking through more barriers allowed women to experience peak CDSE.

Limitations & Suggestions

Although the present study provides insights into best practices for sport management programs, it does not come without its limitations. First, we must acknowledge the small sample size. Unfortunately, only few students volunteer at mega-events such as Super Bowl LIII, making it difficult to expand this study to more participants. Previous mega-event experience was not factored into the study. Students at this institution have multiple opportunities to volunteer at mega-events and many choose to volunteer at several. The results from this sample could have been impacted if participants had previously volunteered at a mega-event. Moreover, the present study deleted seven items from the CDSE-SF prior to data collection. Although the items may not have been relevant to the current sample, inclusion of these items might have altered results. Nonetheless, the internal consistency reliability of the CDSE-SF was above the common threshold (Nunnally, 1978) and was similar to the internal consistency reliability reported by Buyukgoze-Kavas (2014; α = .92). The present study also did not include a control group. Therefore, the increases in CDSE could have been due to the natural growth and continued education of the participants. Nevertheless, the results provide preliminary evidence towards the effectiveness of volunteering at mega-events. Future studies, therefore, should compare the experimental group with a control group. Finally, more research needs to be conducted to explore and explain the gender differences for CDSE.

Practical Applications

It is important to study CDSE as an outcome of volunteering at a mega-event to analyze the effectiveness of the mega-event at providing a PD opportunity. The present study offers support in favor of promoting student engagement at mega-events by providing prefatory evidence that volunteering at a mega-event boosts CDSE.

In turn, CDSE is important to focus on because, as Gianakos (2001) indicated, it strengthens self-esteem, goal-setting, problem-solving, planning, and self-appraisal, which are all necessary skills that facilitate goal accomplishment. Moreover, internship and volunteer experiences bolster critical thinking skills (Assante et al., 2010), problem-solving skills (Busby & Gibson, 2010), autonomy (McManus & Feinstein, 2014), and knowledge of and preparation for sport management careers (Lee & Chao, 2013; Wang et al., 2014). In addition, according to Koo, Diacin, Khojasteh, and Dixon (2016), since the need for PD is seemingly being met, these participants may be more likely to challenge themselves to achieve greater educational and career goals.

Sport management professionals, therefore, should develop more opportunities for sport management students to gain experience at mega-events. Program directors should facilitate networking between students and professionals who work for major sport organizations. Also, program directors and sport management staff at major sport organizations (e.g., NFL) should develop a greater focus on collaborative projects aimed towards the inclusion of students. Finally, because the present study suggests that mega-event volunteering is especially helpful for women, collaborative efforts should also emphasize the inclusion of women and other minorities.