“Students Are the Reason Most of Us Have Jobs”: Sport Management Faculty Members’ Perceptions of and Attitudes Toward Students

Abstract

Sport management is one of the fastest growing disciplines on college campuses nationwide. Its multifaceted nature suggests that it has a unique blend of students with broad ranging interests. To ensure student success, it is important to understand faculty attitudes toward students. There are two predominant attitudes toward students that occur along a spectrum: conservative-autocratic and liberal-democratic. The conservative-autocratic attitude is characterized by traditional classroom authority, class discipline, and placing little emphasis in the encouragement of autonomy within their students. Liberal-democratic attitudes are characterized by the belief that students should be treated as individuals and can be self-directed in their learning. Liberal-democratic attitudes have been positively correlated with the academic success of students. Utilizing Ng’s (2002) Teachers’ Attitudes Toward Students scale (TATS) scale and informed by McGregor’s (1960) X and Y managerial models of motivation, this study explored sport management faculty attitudes toward students. This study used a mixed methods approach, and 166 sport management faculty members participated in this study. Although the results indicate that the participants prefer adopting liberal-democratic approach in their teaching, older faculty members and tenure-track faculty members were significantly more likely to exhibit conservativeautocratic attitudes toward students. As such, faculty members need to be aware that some circumstances may impact teaching effectiveness and directly influence student outcomes.