Enhancing Kenya University Undergraduate Employability Through Team Sports Participation. A Case of University Students Athletes
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.47941/ijhss.1712Keywords:
Employability, team sports, Undergraduate students-athletesAbstract
Purpose: Employability is a major issue worldwide, and Kenya is increasingly looking to universities to develop employable undergraduate students. A low undergraduate unemployment rate is considered as a sign of a thriving economy, while a high unemployment rate is seen as a waste of national resources. The aim of this study was to examine how undergraduate participating in team sports in Kenya university can enhance employ ability
Methodology: The study used a desktop approach where literature was sought from different sources. The research was carried out with consideration given to previous theoretical literature, both published and unpublished.
Findings: Most employers look for specific skills and attributes in job prospects in addition to academic requirements. These attributes, known as employability skills, aren't job-specific, yet they can boost undergraduate student athletes' employability since they increase productivity and value at work also have an impact on ability to grow career wise.
Unique contribution to theory, practice and policy: Team sports has the potential to provide marginalized and underprivileged undergraduate athletes with adequate abilities, skills, and pathways to job or social enterprise-based possibilities. Participation in team sports can bring young people together in the pursuit of universal peace and a desire to improve themselves. Hence, university management should have good organization, facilitation, and oversight should be provided by university sports management.
Downloads
References
Beqiri, G. (2017), “Essential business skills for success in the workplace”, available at: https:// virtualspeech.com/blog/business-skills-for-success-in-the-workplace.
Brunton, J. A., Cánovas-Alvarez, F. J., Meroño, L., Leiva-Arcas, A., Arias-Estero, J. L., Conde, E., & Isidori, E. (2020). Implementing the European Sports Leadership Programme: A vehicle to help development graduate workplace competencies. Journal of Human Sport and Exercise.
Coffee, P., & Lavallee, D. (2014). Winning students are employable students.
Dacre Pool, L., and Sewell, P. (2007) The Key to Employability: Developing a Practical Model of Graduate Employability. Education and Training.49 (4). pp. 277-289
Dwyer, B., & Gellock, J. L. (2018). Does athletic participation signal employability? An experimental analysis of male and female athlete job applicants. Journal of Intercollegiate Sport, 11(1), 40-64.
Elkins, D. (2017). Does it Pay to Play? A Study of the Employability of Student Athletes.
Festus, Lyle, Kasongo, Atoko, Moses, Marianaand Yu, Derek (2015), “The South African Labour Market 1995-2013”, Economic Research Southern Africa Working Paper 493, Cape Town: ERSA
Gomez, S.J. and Peter, A. (2017), “Developing a framework for employability skills of management graduates”, Clear International Journal of Research in Commerce and Management, Vol. 8 No. 10 (October), pp. 93-97
Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) and ICF Macro. (2010). Kenya Demographic and Health Survey 2008-09. Calverton, Maryland: KNBS and ICF Macro.
Kenya Youth Business Trust. (2012). Retrieved from: http://www.youthbusiness.org/where- we-work/kenya/
Kenya, Republic of. (2012). Third Annual Progress Report (APR) on the Implementation of the First Medium Term Plan (2008 – 2012) of Kenya Vision 2030. Nairobi: Ministry of Planning (Monitoring and Evaluation Directorate).
König, S. (2013). Coaching performance and leadership behaviours in team sports. Sportwissenschaft, 43(4), 253-263.
MBOHA, O. J. (2023). The national government affirmative action fund and youth Employability: a comparative study of Homa Bay and Kisumu Counties, 2017-2022 (Doctoral dissertation, Maseno University). Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports (MOYAS).(2006). Kenya‟s National Youth Policy. Retrieved from: http://www.gyouth.org/main/images/youth.pdf
McEwan, D., & Beauchamp, M. R. (2014). Teamwork in sport: A theoretical and integrative review. International Review of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 7(1), 229-250.
Muchemi, K. W. (2019). Effect of sports on students’ enrolment in private universities in Kenya (Doctoral dissertation, Strathmore University).
Mwirigi, Lucas. (2011). Why we need to adopt informal education practices in the management of formal education systems. Retrieved from http://ezinearticles.com/?Why-We-Need- To-Adopt-Informal-Education-Practices-In-The-Management-Of-FormalEducation- Systems&id=6118428
Mwita, K., & Mwakasangula, E. (2019). The role of sports participation on graduate employability. Journal Of Management Research And Analysis.
Overtoom, C. (2000). Employability skills: An update. ERIC Digest 220
Robinson, J. P. (2000). “What are employability skills?.” The Workplace, 5(3), 1-3,
Salcinovic, B., Drew, M., Dijkstra, P., Waddington, G., & Serpell, B. G. (2022). Factors Influencing Team Performance: What Can Support Teams in High-Performance Sport Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (2007). Kenya Integrated Household Budget Survey (2005/2006). Nairobi: Government Printer.
Sport Industry Research Centre (SIRC). (2013). The Impact of Engagement in Sport on Graduate Employability. Report presented to BUCS. Sport Industry Research Centre: Sheffield Hallam University.
Thirunavukarasu, G., Chandrasekaran, S., Subhash Betageri, V., & Long, J. (2020). Assessing learners’ perceptions of graduate employability. Sustainability, 12(2), 460.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2024 Dr. Benson Gathoni, Dr. Janet Wanjira, Dr. Charles Mucheke
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) 4.0 License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgment of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
