A day in the life of a male college athlete: A public perception and qualitative campus investigation

Suzanne Malia Lawrence, C. Keith Harrison, Jeff Stone

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

16 Scopus citations

Abstract

Perceptual confirmation paradigm (PCP) rooted in social psychology, can be implemented to frame sport science research questions (Stone, Perry, & Darley, 1997). Public perception of college athletes' lives has been scarcely investigated in the sport sciences (Keels, 2005) using the PCP to prime stereotypes. The purpose of this study was to prime stereotypes about a day in the life of a college athlete by using qualitative inquiry to assess college students' (N = 87) perceptions. Participants provided written responses about a day in the life of a college athlete. Two different college athlete targets were used " Tyrone Walker" (n = 44) and " Erik Walker" (n = 43). Four major themes and one minor theme emerged which are descriptive of the participants' perceptions. Findings were related to the leadership responsibilities of sport management practitioners in higher education. Future research inquiries and relevant suggestions were articulated for sport management scholars in the 21st century.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)591-614
Number of pages24
JournalJournal of Sport Management
Volume23
Issue number5
DOIs
StatePublished - Sep 2009

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Decision Sciences
  • Orthopedics and Sports Medicine
  • Physical Therapy, Sports Therapy and Rehabilitation
  • Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management

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