Working in the Sport Industry: A Classification of Human Capital Archetypes Academic Article uri icon

abstract

  • As thousands of professionals are drawn to work in the sport industry known for celebrity, action, and excitement, a growing body of literature on the industrys culture describes a field fraught with burnout, stress, and difficulty balancing workfamily responsibilities. Given this contradiction, there is a need to better understand employee experiences. Thus, the authors utilized a human capital framework to develop employee archetypes. Results from a latent cluster analysis of National Collegiate Athletic Association athletics department employees (N=4,324) revealed five distinct employee archetypes utilizing inputs related to human capital development and work experiences (e.g.,workfamily interface, work engagement, age). Consistent with creative nonfiction methodology, results are presented as composite narratives. Archetypes follow a career arc from early-career support staff to late-career senior leaders and portray an industry culture wherein the human capital is largely overworked, underpaid, and replete with personal sacrifice and regret.

published proceedings

  • JOURNAL OF SPORT MANAGEMENT

altmetric score

  • 27.55

author list (cited authors)

  • Weight, E. A., Taylor, E., Huml, M. R., & Dixon, M. A.

citation count

  • 24

complete list of authors

  • Weight, Erianne A||Taylor, Elizabeth||Huml, Matt R||Dixon, Marlene A

publication date

  • July 2021