Getting an Internship in the Sport Industry: The Institutionalization of Privilege

Abstract

Unpaid internships are embedded in sport hegemony. These unpaid sport internships often offer fewer learning opportunities and foster an environment wherein interns feel like “second-class citizens” in their organization. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the world of unpaid internships in the sport industry by exploring students’ perspectives of them as an institutionalized practice, as well as how privilege impacts their internship experiences. Grounded in institutional theory, data from semistructured interviews with 17 sports management students were analyzed using the Gioia methodology. Three themes emerged from the findings: the idiosyncratic nature of sport internships, the legitimization of unpaid internships in the sport industry, and the institutionalization of privilege spurred by such positions. Practical implications from the study include increasing sport organizations’ awareness of how unpaid internships disadvantage students from less privileged backgrounds and may, therefore, result in a less socioeconomically diverse workforce in the sport industry.

“I Felt Like . . . They Left Me to Fend for Myself”: A Mixed-Method Examination of Sense of Belonging Among Minoritized Groups in Sport Academic Programs

“…This study adds a lack of sense of belonging in educational settings as a potential barrier to the literature looking at challenges faced by women (Burton, 2015;Burton et al, 2009;Shaw & Frisby, 2006) as well as by people whose racial identities have been minoritized (Howe & Rockhill, 2020) in sport management. A group that has remained understudied in sport management is students with lower socioeconomic status (Walker et al, 2021). Our findings indicate that students who self-identified as belonging to lower socioeconomic classes may lack a sense of belonging in sport academic programs compared to their peers holding privileged socioeconomic identities (i.e., middle class), a finding that needs attention from faculty, students, and administrators committed to creating inclusive environments and removing barriers to diversity and inclusion based on socioeconomic status.…”

Why Do Unfairly Paid Trainees Persist? Pay Fairness and Human Capital Investment in Development Leagues

“…For example, MLB has created a monopsonized talent pathway meaning that athletes have no choice but to persist through the minor leagues if they have expectations of playing at the top level of baseball. The growing expectation that sport management students take at least one unpaid internship might also help organizations take advantage of trainees (Hawzen et al, 2018;Taylor & Hardin, 2017;Walker et al, 2021;Wiest & King-White, 2013).…”

“…Issues of pay fairness have also dominated the internship literature in sport management, with some scholars arguing that internships are necessary for learning and development (Koo et al, 2016;Sauder & Mudrick, 2018;Sotiriadou, 2011;Yoh & Choi, 2011), whereas others argue that they extract value from interns without proper compensation (Hawzen et al, 2018;Taylor & Hardin, 2017;Walker et al, 2021;Wiest & King-White, 2013). Our theory integrates both arguments by predicting that trainees tolerate working conditions they perceive as unfair because of their expectations of success and perceptions of learning achievement.…”

“…The conflict between minor league baseball players and teams around pay levels parallels similar debates around unpaid internships, apprenticeships, digital work, and other types of on-the-job training, where trainees are increasingly asked to perform low paid or unpaid work, which may be perceived as unfair, as part of their development (Acemoglu & Pischke, 1999;Hawzen et al, 2018;Walker et al, 2021;Wolter & Ryan, 2011). We conceptualize pay fairness as a trainee's subjective judgment of whether pay levels are justified based on the context of work performed.…”

“…Pay fairness theories predict that employees will be more likely to quit when they perceive unfair pay. However, there are many situations where trainees endure, such as minor league baseball and other contexts such as internships, apprenticeships, and journalism (Acemoglu & Pischke, 1999;Hawzen et al, 2018;Kuehn & Corrigan, 2013;Walker et al, 2021;Wolter & Ryan, 2011). Understanding why trainees endure in circumstances where they perceive unfair pay is important to help understand the proliferation of unpaid and low-paid training opportunities in modern economies and the sport industry.…”