An Examination of Variables Related to Student Employment in Campus Recreation Programs

Abstract

Previous literature on student employment within campus recreation departments has focused on a variety of work-related factors, but has been limited by examining single institutions. The current study extended this area of research by examining 290 recreation student employees at 11 institutions located throughout the United States to determine how important five work-related variables were to student employment. Results indicated all variables were rated high in importance, but ability to work around class schedules was most important. Results also indicated that females believe pay rate is more important than males, first year employees do not desire supervisory roles as much as students with more work experience, and students who have supervisory responsibilities find these roles more important than students without such roles. These results can be used by recreation administrators to better understand the priorities of their employees, which ultimately could impact quality of work.

The Assessment of Transferable Skills in a Campus Recreation Program: An Exploratory Case Study on how Professionals Teach and how Student Employees Learn

“…Turner, Jordan, and DuBord (2005), studied the importance of organizational commitment in keeping students employed in campus recreation. Johnson, Kaiser and Bell (2012) researched variables in regards to students being employed in campus recreation. Forrester (2014) articulated that for years the field of campus recreation has championed the benefits of participation in collegiate recreation sport activities, facilities, programs and services.…”

Practice Makes Perfect: Student Employee Transferable Skill Utilization in Campus Recreation

“…However, working on campus results in only minor differences within these levels from nonworking students. One study of on-campus recreational employees found that social interactions acted as one of the significant positive factors for students' employment decisions (Johnson, Kaiser, & Bell, 2012).…”

“…No relationship existed for credit hour enrollment. Other research on campus recreation employees has focused on job satisfaction (Johnson et al, 2012), socialization (Griffith, Walker, & Collins, 2011), organizational culture (Wells & Lower, 2016), and position-specific outcomes (Griffith et al, 2011;Miller & Grayson, 2006).…”

Collegiate Recreation Student Employee as Student Leader

“…There is a growing body of research assisting practitioners in understanding the connection between student employment and college student development (Astin, 1984;Salisbury, Pascarella, Padgett, & Blaich, 2012). In addition, there is research focused directly on college students working in collegiate recreation environments (Hall, 2013;Johnson, Kaiser, & Bell, 2012;Kellison & James;2011;Miller & Grayson, 2006;Wallace Carr, 2005) as well as literature on student employment and leadership development (Luzzo, 1999;Perozzi, 2009).…”