Exploring the Career Mobility of Women in Campus Recreation

This thesis is a quantitative research design that examines the upward mobility of women administrators in campus recreation. The purpose of this study is to examine the career mobility of women currently working in the administration of campus recreation. A criterion sampling method was used to select women currently holding administrative level positions in campus recreation as well as solicit participation using the National Intramural-Recreational Sports Association (NIRSA) Member Database. The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS 18.0) was utilized to analyze the data. For the quantitative data, basic descriptive statistics were performed which included means, standard deviations, and frequencies. For the research questions Pearson Chi Square tests, ANOVA tests, and Tukey’s Post Hoc test were conducted. The respondents’ narrative comments were analyzed objectively for common themes. A total of 348 women administrators successfully completed the e-survey, generating a 45.7% response rate. Some significant findings from this study include: (1) The current study supports the literature of previous studies in that women in different sport industry segments are experiencing the same barriers to career mobility; (2) Women still perceive the same challenges as women over 30 years ago; (3) The status of women has increasingly changed as women continue to make inroads into the campus recreation profession, however women’s perceived career development remains unchanged.