Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

The Desire To Train: A Motivational Profile Of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Players, Terrance Tarver

Masters Theses

Combat sports, such as Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, require intense physical, mental, and emotional tasking within its training. With the degree of difficulty ingrained within the sport, as well as the performance-focused climate that this sport may be practiced within, many participants that once were intrigued by the sport may lose this interest and enjoyment if their goals are not met. This leads to much interest into what factors drive the motivation of those that continue to participate within Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. The purpose of this study is to develop a motivational profile of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu players. 216 participants from …

Understanding The Role Of Motivation In Professional Athletes, Michelle Gacio Harrolle, Melissa Klay

Journal of Applied Sport Management

Our study examines the overall motivation of professional athletes in an effort to assist sport organizations in understanding their most important asset, the players. The purpose of this qualitative study was to investigate the experiences and motivations of professional athletes within a team setting. Researchers conducted individual semi-structured interviews with 13 professional American football players. Seven themes were present within the data including a love of the game, selfmotivation, sense of community, professional development, engagement with fans, assist the league, and lack of financial support, which was identified as a deterrent to motivation. Teams should increase investment in the professional …

An Analysis Of Running Event Consumer Behaviors, Thomas Aicher, Jason Simmons, Alicia Cintron

Journal of Applied Sport Management

The purpose of this study was to examine the motives, constraints, and event selection factors affecting consumers’ decisions to participate in running events, specifically for a running festival in the Midwest United States. In partnership with a large running festival in the Midwest United States, data were collected via an online questionnaire. In total, 1,650 individuals completed a portion of the survey with 1,235 completing the additional questions for this investigation yielding a 74% completion rate. Based on the results of this study, runners’ autonomous motivation was significantly greater among those who participated in more events or longer distances during …

An Examination Of Music Majors' Perceived Barriers To Complying With An Exercise Program, Matthew William Seitz

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation focused on a mixed-methods exploration of the barriers and motivation to exercise in a sample of music majors at a large southeastern university. Due to dietary concerns and other obstacles to engaging in regular exercise, musicians are at a greater dietary and cardiovascular risk than the general population. Previous research has revealed music majors, in general, do not identify as exercisers. This comes with its obvious health risks. Self-determination theory and exercise identity literature posits individuals who more strongly identify as exercisers and who are more intrinsically motivated to exercise will workout more often and more consistently than …

Second-Language Acquisition And Motivation: A Literature Review, Pat Goodridge

Pursuit - The Journal of Undergraduate Research at The University of Tennessee

This literature review traces the development of motivation in second-language acquisition, a field that has evolved from basic associations between affective factors and second-language performance to nuanced approaches of how motivation is shaped by a learner’s subjective cognition. With this review, we see that motivation’s role has always been central to language learning, and the development of our understanding of this role has mirrored the development of our understanding of second-language acquisition’s psychological and cognitive aspects. Such understanding contributes to many areas of second-language pedagogy, developmental psychology, and applied linguistics, all of which are relevant to our practical research goals …

Motivation And Support For Regulatory Changes: A Typology Of Tennessee Wild Turkey Hunters, Cristina Elisa Maldonado

Masters Theses

Hunters form a diverse group with multiple motivations for seeking outdoor recreation experiences. A deeper understanding of hunters’ motivations may benefit wildlife managers in state agencies to cater services and regulations to meet the needs of this diverse group. To determine the motivations of wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) hunters in Tennessee, and their attitudes and preferences concerning turkey hunting and management, a self-administered questionnaire was developed and mailed to a sample of licensed Turkey hunters in Tennessee. A multivariate K-means cluster analysis was then applied to identify hunter typologies based on several motivation factors that were derived from …

Motivation, Satisfaction, And Retention Of Sport Management Student Volunteers, James E. Johnson, Chrysostomos Giannoulakis, Nathan Felver, Lawrence W. Judge, Pierce A. David, Beau F. Scott

Journal of Applied Sport Management

Sport management programs often partner with intercollegiate athletic departments or community sport organizations to provide student volunteers. Motivating, satisfying, and retaining the student population may constitute a challenge for academic program stakeholders. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between motivation, satisfaction, and retention of volunteers at undergraduate sport management programs. Three hundred and twenty-two undergraduate students from five Midwestern institutions completed a 46-item questionnaire assessing their volunteer motivation, satisfaction, and retention. Results indicated students were predominantly motivated to volunteer by Love of Sport and Career motivation factors. Career, Social, Understanding, and Enhancement motivations significantly aided in …

Development Of The Coach Autonomy Support Beliefs Scale, Johannes Jakob Raabe

Doctoral Dissertations

Coaches’ autonomy support is one of the most meaningful influences on the satisfaction of athletes’ basic psychological needs of competence, autonomy, and relatedness (Mageau & Vallerand, 2003). Fostering these needs cultivates self-determined motivation (Deci & Ryan, 2000), which has been found to positively affect individuals’ effort, persistence when faced with adversity, performance, performance-related anxiety, and well-being (Gillet, Berjot, & Gobance, 2009; Mack et al., 2011; Podlog & Dionigi, 2010; Vallerand & Losier, 1999). The reasoned action approach (Fishbein & Ajzen, 2010) suggests that coaches’ attitude, perceived behavioral control, and perceived norm toward autonomy support influences their use of autonomysupportive behaviors. …

Undergraduate Motivations For Choosing A Science, Technology, Engineering, Or Mathematics (Stem) Major, Preston Taylor Mitchell

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

Microbloggers’ Motivations In Participatory Journalism: A Cross-Cultural Study Of America And China, Jue Rui

Doctoral Dissertations

This phenomenological study focuses on the motivations of participatory journalists contributing on microblogs such as Twitter and Weibo. Although online user behavior and motivations have been studied before, few studies have examined motivations of participatory journalists from their own perspective. Moreover, this study is one of the few to explore participatory journalists across different cultures (U.S. and China). The author conducted a total of 13 in-depth interviews with participatory journalists on microblogs from both countries and used a qualitative analysis method to identify the themes and patterns that emerged. Motivations such as earning respect, technology early adoption, self-expression, relationship building, …

Sec Football Away Game Consumption: The Roles Of Motives, Subcultural Identification, Contextual Dimensions And Destination Image In Sport Tourism, Robert Bruce Daniell

Doctoral Dissertations

The popularity of college football, specifically Southeastern Conference (SEC) football, is at an all-time high. Extant research analyzes consumer behavior in sport consumption settings; however, the away game sport tourist is often overlooked. Given the economic impacts associated with sport tourism, a deeper understanding of the college football sport tourist is desirable. This study utilized a research model grounded in social identity theory and motivation theory to examine the relationships among various sport consumption motives, subcultural identification, and destination image applied to SEC football away game sport tourists.

The results of the study indicate that SEC football away game sport …

Students’ Writing Self-Efficacy, Motivation, And Experience: Predictors In Journalism Education, Matthew Bryan Broaddus

Doctoral Dissertations

The field of journalism has gone through several years of turmoil as new technology, platforms, and economic hardships have swept away traditional journalistic practices and models. Print media continues to hemorrhage jobs and money while media outlets adjust to technology-enhanced reporting. College journalism majors often face changing curriculum and graduate feeling unprepared to be competitive in the journalistic job market. While many things have changed in the field, one pillar of journalism that has not changed is the need for journalists to possess an excellent writing ability, supplemented with the ability to think analytically. The connection between students’ ability to …