Journal of Hospitality, Leisure, Sport & Tourism Education 28 (2021) 100306

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Journal of Hospitality, Leisure,

Sport & Tourism Education
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jhlste

Graduate employability and higher education’s contributions to

human resource development in sport business before and after
COVID-19
Shintaro Sato a, *, Tae-Ahn Kang b, Ebe Daigo c, Hirotaka Matsuoka a,
Munehiko Harada a
a
Faculty of Sport Sciences, Waseda University, 3-4-1 Higashifushimi Nishi-Tokyo, Tokyo, 2020021, Japan
b
Graduate School of Sport Sciences, Waseda University, 3-4-1 Higashifushimi Nishi-Tokyo, Tokyo, 2020021, Japan
c
Faculty of Health and Sport Sciences, University of Tsukuba, 1-1-1 Tennodai, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 3058577, Japan

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: The sport labor market’s needs are susceptive to environmental factors. The situation regarding
Graduate employability COVID-19 has particularly been influential in altering employment and education policies. The
Higher education purpose of this research was twofold (1) to understand the graduate employability (i.e., hard and
COVID-19
soft skills): and contributions that higher education institutions can make to produce human
Delphi study
resources and (2) to identify the differences regarding the above factors before and after COVID-
19. The results of Delphi study with executive-level experts in sport business identified various
hard/soft skills and higher education’s potential contributions. Moreover, experts’ expectations
are found to be intensified after the COVID-19 outbreak.

1. Introduction

The primary purpose of higher education institution (HEI) is to develop individuals to obtain the qualities demanded in the given
labor market (Cai, 2013). In the relationship between higher education and labor markets, graduate employability has been considered
an important concept (Clarke, 2018). Graduate employability is defined as “a set of achievements – skills, understandings, and personal
attributes – that make graduates more likely to gain employment and be successful in their chosen occupations” (Yorke, 2006, p. 8).
HEIs should enhance graduate employability by understanding the labor market’s needs and providing opportunities that can help
equip students with necessary skillsets (Harvey, 2001; Tomlinson, 2012; Tsitskari, Goudas, Tsalouchou, & Michalopoulou, 2017).
In the past two decades, many students have chosen sport management as a major due to their passion for the sport industry (Cohen
& Levine, 2016; Eagleman & McNary, 2010; Todd & Andrew, 2008; Zhang, Wang, Min, Chen, & Huang, 2016). Nevertheless, acquiring
a full-time job in the sport industry upon graduation has been challenging (de Schepper & Sotiriadou, 2018; Keiper, Sieszputowski,
Morgan, & Mackey, 2019; Todd, Magnusen, Andrew, & Lachowetz, 2014). HEIs recognize the importance of producing attractive
human resources to the sport industry (de Schepper & Sotiriadou, 2018). Meeting such an industry expectation is not an easy task due
to the diverse characteristics of sport as an occupational field (Emery, Crabtree, & Kerr, 2012; Mathner & Martin, 2012; Minten, 2010).
Many scholars have strived to understand graduate employability in sport (de Schepper, Sotiriadou, & Hill, 2020; Griffiths, Bullough,

* Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: satoshintaro@aoni.waseda.jp (S. Sato), melo-melo@ruri.waseda.jp (T.-A. Kang), daigo.ebe.ga@u.tsukuba.ac.jp (E. Daigo),
matsuoka-hiro@waseda.jp (H. Matsuoka), haradamunehiko@waseda.jp (M. Harada).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhlste.2021.100306
Received 16 October 2020; Received in revised form 31 January 2021; Accepted 11 February 2021
Available online 25 February 2021
1473-8376/© 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
S. Sato et al. Journal of Hospitality, Leisure, Sport & Tourism Education 28 (2021) 100306

Shibli, & Wilson, 2017; Minten & Forsyth, 2014). Nevertheless, the labor market’s needs can be susceptive to environmental factors
such as geographic locations, cultures, and societal influences (Cai, 2013; Wiers-Jenssen, 2008), calling for more research that tackles
various regions and trends.
Various industries, including tourism and sport, have been significantly influenced by the COVID-19 outbreak (Donthu & Gus­
tafsson, 2020; Sato, Oshimi, Bizen, & Saito, 2020; Uğur & Akbıyık, 2020), leading to potential changes in workplaces. For example,
individuals and organizations have experienced drastic changes such as social distancing and remote work environments since the
onset of the outbreak (Angelucci, Angrisani, Bennett, Kapteyn, & Schaner, 2020). Employers’ expectations toward workers should be
different between before and after the pandemic, requiring graduates to prepare for demanded skillsets for the new normal (Buheji &
Buheji, 2020).
The purposes of this study are twofold: (1) to identify graduate employability and HEIs’ contributions from the perspectives of sport
business experts and (2) to identify differences regarding graduate employability and HEIs’ contributions before and after COVID-19.
The authors employed a three-round Delphi method that utilized surveys and a focus group interview. The current research can
provide two significant contributions. The first contribution is to shed light on graduate employability in the eastern region. Past
research regarding graduate employability in sport has been conducted in the western regions (de Schepper et al., 2020; Griffiths et al.,
2017; Minten, 2010; Minten & Forsyth, 2014). Contributions from eastern regions have been surprisingly scant (Huang, 2013). The
other contribution that the current research adds is the potential impact of COVID-19. Recent reports suggested that COVID-19 has
been influential in altering sport consumers’ perceptions and behaviors (Donthu & Gustafsson, 2020; Majumdara & Nahab, 2020; Sato
et al., 2020) as well as various employment and education policies (Anderson, 2020; Chan, 2020; Winchester-Seeto & Piggott, 2020).
Therefore, it is essential to understand what kinds of competences are demanded by labor markets and what contributions that HEIs
can make to produce human resources under the influence of COVID-19.

2. Literature review

2.1. Graduate employability and the role of higher education

Graduate employability is defined as “a set of achievements – skills, understandings, and personal attributes – that make graduates
more likely to gain employment and be successful in their chosen occupations” (Yorke, 2006, p. 8). It is important to note that graduate
employability is not merely an outcome (i.e., job acquisition). It also highlights the potential of individuals to continuously grow in the
chosen workplace (Tomlinson, 2012). With regard to the operationalization of graduate employability, scholars have commonly
treated graduate employability as hard (technical) and soft (personal) skills (Andrews & Higson, 2008; de Schepper et al., 2020;
Weber, Crawford, Lee, & Dennison, 2013). Hard skills emphasize the knowledge of the profession backed by theory applications,
whereas soft skills refer to personal competencies and attributes (de Schepper et al., 2020; Griffiths et al., 2017; Weber, Lee, &
Crawford, 2020). Labor markets expect graduates to possess hard skills and knowledge in the expert areas and soft skills that can
navigate across different work domains (Jackson, 2016).
Numerous studies have identified various graduate employability by understanding the needs of the labor markets (de Prada Creo,
Mareque, & Portela-Pino, 2020; de Schepper et al., 2020; de Schepper & Sotiriadou, 2018; Griffiths et al., 2017). Andrews and Higson
(2008) focused on the business major graduates and found that equipping a high-level business knowledge and skills (i.e., hard skills) is
considered a significant value in employment. They also found that the level of employers’ expectations regarding hard and soft skills
are exceptionally similar. However, scholars have reached a certain level of consensus that soft skills could be more important than
hard skills when focusing on “people business” including sport, tourism, and hospitality (Crawford, Weber, & Lee, 2020; Weber et al.,
2013). Indeed, Griffiths et al. (2017), focusing on the student sample from the United Kingdom, found that employers in the sport
industry place more importance on soft skills over hard skills. de Schepper et al. (2020), based on a survey research in the Netherlands,
found that critical reflection is the essential soft skill that the sport industry needs. A study conducted by Weber et al. (2013) also
yielded a similar finding that performance management, one of the soft skills, is seemingly the most important factor for entry-level
hospitality managers. Tsitskari et al. (2017) mentioned that although soft skills (e.g., enthusiasm, leadership) tend to be more
important than hard skills (e.g., numerical skills), these qualities play a complementary role to be successful.
The aforementioned studies highlighted various hard and soft skills, but the implication consistently stated is the need for the
alignment between industry demands and the education system (Emery et al., 2012; Tsitskari et al., 2017). Previous triangulation
studies in sport repeatedly indicated the disparities between stakeholders. For example, de Shepper et al.‘s study (2020) yielded a
finding that students’ perception of their critical reflection ability did not necessarily satisfy employers’ expectations. Many
well-educated graduates also mentioned that they do not or cannot utilize learned academic contents in their occupations (Dolton &
Vignoles, 2000; Green, 2013). It can imply a wide gap between graduates’ skills and labor markets’ demands despite the explicit efforts
made by HEIs (Andrews & Higson, 2008; King, 2003; Suleman, 2018; Zhang et al., 2016). The solution for the disparities is to deepen
the understanding of what the employers need (Cai, 2013; Emery et al., 2012). Nevertheless, employers’ needs can be susceptive to
environmental factors such as industry type, geographic locations, and societal trends (Cai, 2013; Mathner & Martin, 2012; Wiers-­
Jenssen, 2008). It calls for more research that explore graduate employability by focusing on the sport industry in a country where
relatively less attention has been given. Since previous literature has extensively studied graduate employability in the western
countries (Lord, Lorimer, Babraj, & Richardson, 2019; Minten & Forsyth, 2014), particular attention was given to an eastern country
by focusing on the sport industry in Japan.
Even if we fully understand the needs of the labor market, there are some debates as to whether higher education can make sig­
nificant contributions to human resource development (Cranmer, 2006; Treleaven & Voola, 2008). Along with the increasing interest

2
S. Sato et al. Journal of Hospitality, Leisure, Sport & Tourism Education 28 (2021) 100306

in the education-to-work transition of graduates (Lindberg, 2007; Teichler, 2000), HEIs have strived to equip students with more than
just academic skills (Allen & Van der Velden, 2001; Mason, Williams, & Cranmer, 2009). However, skill-job mismatches have
remained unsolved yet (Suleman, 2018). The challenges have become even more intensified in the sport industry due to its rapid
growth (de Schepper & Sotiriadou, 2018). The human capital theory addresses that education needs to help endow individuals with a
set of skills rewarded by employers (Becker, 1964). It concentrates on the explicit contributions of HEIs to preparing graduates for the
world of work (Teichler, 2009). Incorporating the above arguments, we developed the following research questions.
RQ1: What kinds of graduate employability (i.e., hard and soft skills) are demanded from the perspectives of the sport business
experts in Japan?
RQ2: What kinds of contributions that higher education institutions can make to equip students with necessary skills from the
perspectives of the sport business experts in Japan?
The potential impact of COVID-19 on human resource demands in sport.
The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our society is still unknown. The sports industry, one of the most affected service in­
dustries so far, faces uncertainties. Many local and international events have been postponed or canceled (Sato et al., 2020), leading to
significant revenue loss from the fans, community, media, and broadcasting. The closures of stadiums and arenas as well as the
suspension of community sport have intensified the challenges that sports practitioners face, and the adverse trends are expected to
continue in the next few years (Shaikh & Usmani, 2020).
Scholars have made several suggestions from human resource management perspectives which might be useful to overcome the
uncertain times. Concerning hard skills, Bakhshi, Downing, Osborne, and Schneider (2017) utilized the machine learning approach to
identify the skills demanded in the future labor markets. It indicated that knowledge that helps understand humans (e.g., psychology)
is particularly useful. In addition, various sport organizations must develop new business strategies that align with various environ­
mental changes such as social distancing caused by the risk of COVID-19 (Fullagar, 2020). In this sense, the knowledge regarding
business strategies should be of importance in the sport industry (Clarkson, Culvin, Pope, & Parry, 2020).
Necessary soft skills could also be different in the times of COVID-19. Scholars have started to identify important soft skills although
the majority of studies that investigated human resources in conjunction of COVID-19 has focused on non-sport contexts to date (e.g.,
healthcare). One of the important soft skills is solidarity (Salas-Vallina, Ferrer-Franco, & Herrera, 2020). Dirani et al. (2020), in their
research conducted after the COVID-19 outbreak, have also yielded a consistent view, indicating that employees’ abilities to work with
others is essential. It is also necessary to understand and respect diversity, which can be increasingly important in the next generation.
Especially in Japan, the current research context, disability (Fitzgerald, Stride, & Drury, 2020) and gender equality (Clarkson et al.,
2020) in sport received surprisingly less attention in academics and practitioners. The anecdotal evidence mentioned above suggests
that demanded soft skills could be perceived differently by sport business experts.
HEIs should also recognize the potential changes brought by COVID-19. For example, Parnell, Widdop, Bond, and Wilson (2020)
provided a useful thought on leadership, indicating that the quick judgment and determination helped the British Football League’s
success during the crisis. Previous literature also yielded a supporting argument as leaders’ characteristics and skills have become
increasingly important during uncertain times (Doherty, Millar, & Misener, 2020; Streeter, 2020). As such, leadership development
could be one of the expectations toward HEIs after the COVID-19 outbreak. HEIs may also be expected to deliver various e-learning
opportunities due to the risk of COVID-19. There is also a need to improve the staff and volunteers’ skills in the online engagement of
various stakeholders, including fans (Fullagar, 2020). HEIs may need to shift from physically present to virtually interacting education
systems. The studies mentioned above are somewhat anecdotal as concrete evidence should be provided sometime after the significant

Fig. 1. Conceptual model.

3
S. Sato et al. Journal of Hospitality, Leisure, Sport & Tourism Education 28 (2021) 100306

event (i.e., COVID-19 outbreak in this case). Nevertheless, the descriptions regarding the challenges faced by the sports industry would
be beneficial in highlighting the following research question. Incorporating all research questions in this study, the comprehensive
research model was developed (Fig. 1).
RQ3: Are there differences regarding graduate employability and higher education institutions’ contributions before and after
COVID-19 from the perspective of the sport business experts in Japan?

3. Methods

3.1. Procedure and participants

The current Delphi study consisted of three rounds of examinations in which questionnaires and a face-to-face discussion session
were used (Duncan, 1995; Roberson, Collins, & Oreg, 2005). Delphi method is useful when researchers aim to summarize experts’
opinions on the current and future status of the research topics (Martino, 1983). The current Delphi study recruited both practitioners
and researchers with sport business expertise to acquire diverse opinions (Rupprecht, Birner, Gruber, & Mulder, 2011). For practi­
tioners, we recruited experts at a management/executive level in sport business organizations (e.g., professional sport leagues and
teams). For researchers, those who have specialized in sport business related subjects for at least 10 years were recruited. It is also
important to note that the recruited researchers had experiences in working with professional sport leagues and teams. These criteria
were generated based on the definition of experts as individuals who have skills, experiences, or extensive knowledge in his/her work
domain (Brekelmans, Poell, & van Wijk, 2013).
In the first round, the authors employed a survey method. We sent the email invitations to participate in the first-round investi­
gation to sport business experts who met the above criteria, resulting 10 experts participated. The sample size was deemed appropriate
as a minimum of eight experts were successfully recruited (Hallowell & Gambatese, 2010). Experts were asked to answer open-ended
questionnaire items sent via emails. The questions specifically asked (1) skills and abilities demanded in the sport industry and (2)
possible educational programs and activities that HEIs can offer students to acquire necessary skillsets. For the first question, the actual
item was “What kind of human resources do you think the sport industry needs? Please list anything (abstract and/or concrete experiences or
examples) that comes to your mind.” For the second question, we used “What do you think higher education institutions can offer to develop
the human resources demanded in the sport industry? Please list anything (specific programs and/or activities) that you think beneficial.” Two
experienced researchers extracted the responses that experts provided to the above questions. For the first question about skills and
abilities, the responses were grouped into hard or soft skills. The responses about HEIs’ contributions were also carefully summarized.
In the second round, 14 experts who met the expert criteria participated in the focus-group discussion session. The purpose of the
discussion session was to arrive at a consensus of the first-round responses. Experts were shown a list of ideas reported in the first round
and associated examples obtained from the first round. Experts were then asked to discuss with other experts until a consensus is made
freely. Qualitative discussion data were transcribed, and two researchers again carefully analyzed the experts’ opinions to identify
overlapped or missed ideas. This process leads to the identification of specific factors for each category (i.e., hard skills, soft skills,
higher education contributions). It is important to note that the COVID-19 outbreak emerged immediately after the second-round
investigation.

Fig. 2. Overview of the Delphi methods.

4
S. Sato et al. Journal of Hospitality, Leisure, Sport & Tourism Education 28 (2021) 100306

In the final round, we sent an online questionnaire with the list of employability and higher education’s contributions summarized
in the second round. By following the established procedure (Schmidt, Lyytinen, Keil, & Cule, 2001), 24 sport business experts rated
the importance of each item on a five-point Likert type scale ranging from 1 = Not important at all to 5 = Very important. We asked the
experts to answer the importance of the items before and after COVID-19. The final-round investigation was conducted in July–August
2020. The overview of the Delphi procedure is shown in Fig. 2.

3.2. Data analysis

The rated importance of hard and soft skills demanded in the sport industry (RQ1) and possible contributions of HEIs (RQ2) were
analyzed according to descriptive statistics (i.e., mean and standard deviation). Intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) were also
calculated to examine the stability of the data obtained by 24 experts (Koo & Li, 2016). A paired sample t-test was conducted to
compare the differences between the importance of the above items before and after COVID-19 (RQ3). The data analyses were
executed using IBM SPSS Statistics 26.0.

4. Results

4.1. The importance of hard and soft skills and higher education’s contributions

In the first round using open-ended questions, 65 responses were listed as skills and abilities demanded in the sport industry. Of
those, two experienced researchers identified 26 items as hard skills and 39 items as soft skills. Concerning the possible contributions of
HEIs, the experts provided 25 responses. The extracted factors from the first round were further refined in the second round based on a
focus group discussion. The results indicated that experts mostly agreed with the categorization of responses with minor suggestions.
Based on the suggestions, the original factors were carefully refined, resulting in nine factors for the hard skills, 13 factors for the soft
skills, and seven factors for the possible contributions of HEIs (Table 1).
Hard skills were categorized into nine factors: (1) consumer psychology, (2) business strategies, (3) marketing, (4) knowledge

Table 1
Descriptive statistics of graduate employability in the sport industry and expected contribution of HEI before and after COVID-19.
Items Before COVID-19 After COVID-19 t-value p

M SD M SD

Hard skills
Consumer psychology 4.25 .68 4.46 .66 2.46 <.05
Business strategies 4.21 .66 4.38 .71 1.70 .10
Marketing 4.21 .72 4.17 .70 .37 .71
Knowledge about uniqueness of sport 4.04 1.04 4.17 1.05 1.37 .19
Negotiation 4.00 .66 4.04 .69 .57 .58
Data analytics 3.83 .82 4.00 .83 1.70 .10
Financing 3.63 .92 3.79 1.06 2.15 <.05
Business experiences 3.54 1.10 3.58 1.06 .57 .58
International experiences 3.33 .96 3.50 .98 2.15 <.05
Total 3.89 .46 4.01 .52 2.54 <.05
Soft skills
Ability to involve others 4.38 .65 4.46 .72 1.00 .33
Curiosity 4.38 .58 4.42 .65 .44 .66
Ethics 4.25 .61 4.38 .65 1.81 .08
Respect for diversity 4.17 .64 4.29 .62 1.81 .08
Creativity 4.13 .68 4.38 .71 1.81 .08
Passion for sport 4.13 .80 4.25 .79 1.81 .08
Sociability 4.00 .78 4.04 .81 1.00 .33
Solidarity 3.88 .74 4.08 .78 2.46 <.05
Networking skills 3.83 .70 4.17 .70 3.39 <.01
Passion for coaching 3.75 .94 3.79 1.02 .57 .58
Hardworking 3.75 .94 3.75 .94 .00 .99
Charisma 2.79 1.10 2.75 1.26 .44 .66
Competitive sport experiences 2.38 1.17 2.25 1.19 1.37 .19
Total 3.83 .40 3.92 .48 2.00 .06
Expected contribution of higher education institution
Industry-academia collaboration 3.79 .78 3.92 .83 1.37 .19
Learning opportunities for executives 3.67 .76 3.83 .82 2.15 <.05
Learning opportunities for top-athletes 3.63 .92 3.92 .88 2.29 <.05
Courses specifically focused on communication skill development 3.50 .90 3.75 .74 2.02 .06
e-learning opportunities 3.33 .76 3.88 .80 3.19 <.01
Alumni association 3.29 .81 3.54 .93 2.30 <.05
English-based courses 3.13 .74 3.25 .23 1.14 .27
Total 3.48 .55 3.73 .59 3.13 <.01

5
S. Sato et al. Journal of Hospitality, Leisure, Sport & Tourism Education 28 (2021) 100306

about the uniqueness of sport, (5) negotiation, (6) data analytics, (7) financing, (8) business experiences, and (9) international ex­
periences (Table 1). Consumer psychology refers to the knowledge for understanding consumers’ psychology regarding their decision-
making processes. Business strategies represent the knowledge about a set of actions that a business uses to attract customers. Mar­
keting refers to the knowledge that effectively proceeds the exchange process between the organizations and their customers.
Knowledge about the uniqueness of sport indicates the understanding of both intrinsic (i.e., competition) and extrinsic (i.e., com­
mercial) values inherent in sports. Negotiation refers to the understanding and skills to reach agreements in various business activities
among internal (i.e., employees) or external stakeholders (i.e., customers, partners). Data analytics includes the knowledge and skills
to analyze the data sets and interpret the outputs. Financing is related to the knowledge and abilities to read financial statements and
understand the cash flow. Business experiences refer to the understanding of how actual businesses are run, often backed by an
internship and on-the-job training programs. Lastly, international experiences ranged from study abroad experiences to international
working experiences.
Soft skills were classified into 13 factors: (1) ability to involve others, (2) curiosity, (3) ethics, (4) respect for diversity, (5) crea­
tivity, (6) passion for sport, (7) sociability, (8) solidarity, (9) networking skills, (10) passion for coaching, (11) hardworking, (12)
charisma, and (13) competitive sport experiences (Table 1). The ability to involve others represents the extent to which individuals can
lead diverse professionals from various organizations to be involved in their businesses. Curiosity is the desire to know and learn about
something, which results in self-development. Ethics require moral principles dealing with what is right and wrong in terms of their
working actions. Respect for diversity is equipped with the understanding of and respecting different cultures and backgrounds.
Creativity refers to the ability to use an original idea in an attempt to create something. The passion for sport reflects how individuals
love sports and are dedicated to the sport business. Sociability indicates the individuals’ characteristics to be open to others and ideas.
Solidarity represents a sense of mutual support with internal and external stakeholders. Networking skills refer to the development of
many reliable connections. The passion for coaching refers to the enthusiasm to coach staff and subordinate members with long-term
perspectives. Hardworking includes the stamina and mindset to work intensively. Charisma is about the extraordinary power that can
lead individuals and teams to be motivated. Finally, competitive sport experiences indicate individuals’ experiences in sport
competitions.
The possible contributions of HEIs included seven factors: (1) industry-academia collaboration, (2) learning opportunities for
executives, (3) learning opportunities for top-athletes, (4) courses specifically focused on communication skill development, (5) e-
learning opportunities, (6) alumni association, and (7) English-based courses (Table 1).
Prior to analyses of the rated importance of each theme before and after COVID-19, inter-rater reliability was assessed. The ICC
values (Model: two-way mixed, Type: absolute agreement) showed moderate reliability for both the hard skills before COVID-19 (ICC
= 0.74; 95% CI[0.44, 0.93]) and those after COVID-19 (ICC = 0.73; 95% CI[0.44, 0.92]; Portney & Watkins, 2009). In terms of the soft
skills, the ICC values both indicated excellent reliability before COVID-19 (ICC = 0.92; 95% CI[0.85, 0.97]) and after COVID-19 (ICC =
0.93; 95% CI[0.87, 0.98]). Lastly, the ICC values reported moderate reliability for both the possible contributions of HEIs before
COVID-19 (ICC = 0.60; 95% CI[0.18, 0.91]) and those after COVID-19 (ICC = 0.53; 95% CI[0.06, 0.89]). Since the variables
demonstrated moderate to excellent levels of the inter-rater reliability, we concluded that data obtained by 24 experts were sufficiently
consistent (Koo & Li, 2016).
The authors then analyzed the importance of the hard and soft skills, and the possible contributions of HEIs. The results of
descriptive statistics showed that regarding the hard skills, consumer psychology was considered the most important not only before
COVID-19 (M = 4.25, SD = 0.68), but also after COVID-19 (M = 4.46, SD = 0.66; see Table 1). Meanwhile, the least important was
international experiences both before COVID-19 (M = 3.33, SD = 0.96) and after COVID-19 (M = 3.50, SD = 0.98). With regard to the
soft skills, ability to involve others was rated as the most important both before COVID-19 (M = 4.38, SD = 0.65) and after COVID-19
(M = 4.46, SD = 0.72), whereas competitive sport experiences were considered the least important both before COVID-19 (M = 2.38,
SD = 1.17) and after COVID-19 (M = 2.25, SD = 1.19). Lastly, the experts reported industry-academia collaboration as the most
expected contribution of HEIs (Mbefore = 3.79, SD = 0.78; Mafter = 3.92, SD = 0.83), while English-based courses as the least expected
contribution of HEIs (Mbefore = 3.13, SD = 0.74; Mafter = 3.25, SD = 0.23).

4.2. Differences of hard and soft skills and higher education’s contributions between before and after COVID-19

A paired sample t-test was executed to compare differences in the rated importance of hard and soft skills, and expected contri­
bution of HEIs between before and after COVID-19. The results indicated that among the hard skills, the importance of consumer
psychology (t[23] = 2.46, p < .05; Mbefore = 4.25, SD = 0.68; Mafter = 4.46, SD = 0.66; see Table 1), financing (t[23] = 2.15, p < .05;
Mbefore = 3.63, SD = 0.92; Mafter = 3.79, SD = 1.06), and international experiences (t[23] = 2.15, p < .05; Mbefore = 3.33, SD = 0.96;
Mafter = 3.50, SD = 0.98) were rated as significantly different between before and after COVID-19.
In terms of the soft skills, solidarity (t[23] = 2.46, p < .05; Mbefore = 3.88, SD = 0.74; Mafter = 4.08, SD = 0.78) and networking skills
(t[23] = 3.39, p < .01; Mbefore = 3.83, SD = 0.70; Mafter = 4.17, SD = 0.70) were significantly different between before and after COVID-
19. Furthermore, despite the non-significant levels, the importance of ethics (t[23] = 1.81, p = .08; Mbefore = 4.25, SD = 0.61; Mafter =
4.38, SD = 0.65), respect for diversity (t[23] = 1.81, p = .08; Mbefore = 4.17, SD = 0.64; Mafter = 4.29, SD = 0.62), creativity (t[23] =
1.81, p = .08; Mbefore = 4.13, SD = 0.68; Mafter = 4.38, SD = 0.71), and passion for sport (t[23] = 1.81, p = .08; Mbefore = 4.13, SD =
0.80; Mafter = 4.25, SD = 0.79) were marginally different between before and after COVID-19.
The results regarding the comparison of expected contributions of HEIs revealed that learning opportunities for executives (t[23] =
2.15, p < .05; Mbefore = 3.67, SD = 0.76; Mafter = 3.83, SD = 0.82), learning opportunities for top-athletes (t[23] = 2.29, p < .05; Mbefore
= 3.63, SD = 0.92; Mafter = 3.92, SD = 0.88), e-learning opportunities (t[23] = 3.19, p < .01; Mbefore = 3.33, SD = 0.76; Mafter = 3.88,

6
S. Sato et al. Journal of Hospitality, Leisure, Sport & Tourism Education 28 (2021) 100306

SD = 0.80), and alumni association (t[23] = 2.30, p < .05; Mbefore = 3.29, SD = 0.81; Mafter = 3.54, SD = 0.93) were evaluated to be
significantly different between before and after COVID-19. Courses specifically focused on communication skill development was rated
as different at the marginal level between before and after COVID-19 (t[23] = 2.02, p = .06; Mbefore = 3.50, SD = 0.90; Mafter = 3.75,
SD = 0.74).

5. Discussion and managerial implications

The current Delphi study was aimed to identify graduate employability and HEIs’ contributions in the context of the sport industry.
Sport business experts in Japan participated in the three-round investigations. Through the first open ended survey (N = 10) and the
second focus group interview (N = 14), the authors identified nine hard skills (e.g., consumer psychology, busines strategies, mar­
keting), 13 soft skills (e.g., networking skills, passion for sport, hardworking), and seven HEI’s contributions demanded by the experts
(e.g., industry-academia collaborations, learning opportunities for executives, learning opportunities for top-athletes). The current
study also highlighted the differences in the perceived importance of hard/soft skills and expectations toward HEIs between before and
after COVID-19.
First, experts considered some business-related hard skills (i.e., consumer psychology, business strategies, marketing) particularly
crucial before and after COVID-19. Acquiring a high-level of business-related knowledge is beneficial in employability. It can reduce
the amount of time that employers need to spend on coaching the new employees (i.e., work readiness; Huang, 2013; Mason et al.,
2009). The current study’s findings are generally consistent with previous works that emphasize the importance of business-related
hard skills (e.g., consumer behavior, marketing; DeLuca & Fornatora, 2020; Fahrner & Schüttoff, 2020). Among these hard skills,
particular attention should be paid to consumer psychology as our panel experts’ perceived importance was increased. We speculated
that sport business experts in Japan considered psychology useful knowledge that would not be easily replaced with automation. For
example, supporting evidence can be found in Bakhshi et al.‘s machine learning study (2017), identifying that psychology is a vital
hard skill demanded in the future labor markets. Another factor that our panel experts indicated more importance was financing.
Financial literacy is considered an important foundation for any businesses, but past research indicated that financial literacy in Japan
is generally low (Kadoya & Khan, 2020). In another report, only about 14% of students in Japan answered that they received financial
education (Yoshino, Morgan, & Trinh, 2017). We assume that experts’ importance of financial knowledge is more pronounced because
it may increase the work readiness of new employees in the financially challenging environment due to COVID-19. It is also noteworthy
that the importance of business and international experiences is rated relatively lower. Previous literature has indicated that employers
generally prefer work and internship experiences in sport and hospitality fields (Chen, Shen, & Gosling, 2018; Griffiths et al., 2017).
Furthermore, a recent study conducted in western culture (i.e., Malaysia) also revealed that work and internship experiences would
add extra value to graduate employability (Kamaruddin, Ahmad, Husain, & Abd Hamid, 2020). In this sense, the current study pro­
vided inconsistent findings in comparison with the above previous research. The potential reason could be culturally dependent. The
Japanese sport labor market has recently been geared towards mid-career employment rather than recruiting fresh graduates with
work and internship experiences. Our expert panels might underestimate the quality of work experiences students have (e.g.,
internship experiences). With that being said, our expert panels perceived that international experiences would be more important in
the new normal. International experiences have been associated with the amount of learning, development of soft skills, and overall
graduate employability (Crossman & Clarke, 2010; Huang, 2013). However, most practitioners in Japanese sport organizations,
including our expert panels, have limited international experiences. Since the onset of the outbreak, sport organizations have strived to
generate revenue by distributing their digital contents domestic consumers and those in the international markets, accelerating in­
ternational collaborations (Glendinning, 2020). The accelerated trends in digitization and international collaborations might have
alerted our expert panels.
Second, the findings indicated that some soft skills, such as the ability to involve others, curiosity, and ethics were considered
particularly important by sport business experts. Sport business industry innately involves various stakeholders, including sponsoring
and media companies (Bennett, Henson, & Drane, 2003). Experts could consider that working with diverse professionals from a variety
of organizations is the standard. In this sense, the ability to involve others could also be considered an essential competence to be a
“team developer” who effectively creates trust and rapport with various stakeholders both within and outside of the organizations
(Weber et al., 2013). Experts also recognized curiosity as an essential soft skill. Not only acquiring a job but also continuously
providing high-standard contributions in a given workplace is considered a necessary component of graduate employability (Tom­
linson, 2012; Yorke, 2006). Curiosity consists of a positive attitude toward learning and self-development, associated with personal
growth and self-competence (Dixson, 2020; Fahrner & Schüttoff, 2020). Hence, it could be reasoned that experts emphasized the
importance of curiosity because employees with strong curiosity can potentially generate long-term impacts. Interestingly, charisma
and competitive sport experiences were rated relatively lower than other soft skills. A possible reason could be some disagreements
among expert panels as these two soft skills indicated large standard deviations both before (SDcharisma = 1.10, SDcompetitive sport ex­
periences = 1.17, respectively) and after the COVID-19 (SDcharisma = 1.26, SDcompetitive sport experiences = 1.19, respectively). In Japan, elite
athletes’ career transition to sport organizations is a common practice. In fact, the current commissioner for Japan Sports Agency is a
former Olympian whose charisma and on-the-field performance were regarded among Japanese citizens. Such characteristics could be
beneficial for the executives (e.g., CEO, commissioner) when promotional values are the main interests. However, our panel experts
indicated that those characteristics might not apply to potential employees. Interestingly, most of soft skills were rated equally crucial
before and after the COVID-19 outbreak, except two soft skills: solidarity and networking skills. Both solidarity and networking skills
are communication-related factors, essential precursors to be a team developer (Weber et al., 2013). Although it is a speculation, the
authors assume that communication skills would be even more important after COVID-19 due to the challenging quarantine and

7
S. Sato et al. Journal of Hospitality, Leisure, Sport & Tourism Education 28 (2021) 100306

social-distancing environment.
Third, the results indicated that experts have various expectations toward HEIs. Mainly, industry-academia collaboration, exec­
utive education programs, and top-athlete education programs were considered essential. There has been much criticism about higher
education (Cai, 2013). To produce outstanding human resources for the labor market, the disparities between what HEIs do and what
the employers need should be re-considered (Cai, 2013; Emery et al., 2012). Our expert panels indicated that facilitating
industry-academia collaborations could help HEIs understand the essential skills needed in the sport business industry and provide
more hands-on experiences to students. Industry-academia collaborations in sport are not necessarily active in Japan at this moment,
with some exceptions. For example, Sakushin Gakuin University (located approximately 3 h away from Tokyo) started a community
development partnership with local professional sport teams in 2015, where students are provided with continuous, rather than
short-term, learning opportunities during their college years. Waseda University (a private university in Tokyo) has also made a
partnership contract with Asics (a sport apparel company), providing research opportunities and resources for professors and graduate
students. These types of industry-academia collaborations should be encouraged so that students can access up-to-date information
from practitioners. Besides, experts expected HEIs to provide learning opportunities to executives and elite athletes. Education pro­
grams that target executives have been quite common in the western regions (e.g., Monnin, 2012). Although some HEIs in Japan
provide education programs for executives, there has been no “sport” programs for executives and elite athletes. We assume that
experts pointed out the importance of broadening the perspectives among executives and elite athletes. Traditionally, individuals with
strong interests in sport (e.g., former athletes) obtained a sport job without exploring non-sport worlds. Such individuals have the
authority to make various decisions as they become older due to the robust seniority system like in Japan (Pudelko, 2006). It is not rare
for elite athletes to obtain a sport job as a career transition. Experts did not seem to oppose the trends. Rather, they recognize the needs
and expect HEIs to help those athletes to enlarge their perspectives. The results also demonstrated that experts’ expectations toward
HEIs seem to be much higher after COVID-19. Experts perceived that four factors (i.e., learning opportunities for executives, those for
top-athletes, e-learning opportunities, and alumni association) would be more critical after the COVID-19 outbreak.
Proposing managerial implications based on the findings is indeed challenging due to the unexpected nature of COVID-19.
Nevertheless, our expert panels indicated the high level of expectations toward HEIs in the new normal, highlighting several impli­
cations for what HEIs can do to contribute to graduate employability. First, HEIs should continue to provide students with high-quality
classes that deliver business-related knowledge (e.g., consumer psychology, marketing). Although soft skills are often considered more
important in people-businesses such as tourism and hospitality (Crawford et al., 2020), our panel experts reported that hard skills are
as important as soft skills. The findings implied that HEIs should consider how to design courses, rather than what contents to teach, to
use the learned knowledge in the real world. Although this may sound cliché, a possible practice could be to use course projects
collaborated with practitioners. Students can learn technical terms, theories, and models, but there have been limited knowledge
applications opportunities. To solve this problem, practitioners working with course instructors can provide “real challenges” in their
businesses that students can try to solve as a course project. By doing so, HEIs can provide more meaningful learning opportunities (i.e.,
knowledge applications) to their students. Another implication is related to soft skills. Overall, communication-related soft skills were
highly valued based on the expert panel’s opinions. Although there have been active discussions on how soft skills can be developed
(Crawford et al., 2020; Griffiths et al., 2017; Weber et al., 2020), HEIs should design their programs in a way that students can develop
their soft skills. For example, de Prada Creo et al. (2020) found that extra-curricular activities (e.g., sports, music, international group
work) can help students acquire soft skills such like teamwork. A study conducted by Griffiths et al. (2017) yielded a similar finding
that sport participation can help develop various soft skills (e.g., creativity, teamwork). HEIs should not underestimate such
extra-curricular activities if the primary concern is to develop soft skills. Besides, it is also important to facilitate the environment in
which individuals can develop professional networks with ease, which might have been why the expert panel’s expectation toward
alumni associations increased after COVID-19. Surprisingly, many HEIs do not possess such a system as alumni networking is often
limited to each professor’s laboratory (even undergraduate students belong to a lab in Japan). Hence, HEIs in Japan should develop
and support better alumni organization systems.

6. Limitations and future research directions

Although the current research contributes to the literature on graduate employability and sport management education, some
limitations should be addressed for future research. First, this study’s findings should be exercised with caution in generalization
because we focused on the experts from Japanese sport organizations only (e.g., professional sport teams/leagues, national federa­
tions). In other words, all experts who participated in the current study are “sport content holders” rather than those who treat general
consumer products and services through sport. Public and private sport organizations (e.g., sport sponsoring companies, private gyms,
recreational sport service providers, media providers) are also included in the sport industry (Bennett et al., 2003). Indeed, various
stakeholders interact with each other in the sport employability context (Minten, 2010). Future research should identify graduate
employability and the roles of HEIs from multi-entities such as graduates and employers (Minten, 2010) with the consideration in other
sport and recreation sectors (Tsitskari et al., 2017). Furthermore, although the current study’s sample size is considered sufficient for a
Delphi study (Hallowell & Gambatese, 2010; Hsieh, 2013), some may argue that more data should be procured. In this sense, the
characteristics of the experts were limited to cultural diversities. Since international professionals can immigrate to acquire sport jobs
outside of their home countries, incorporating various cultural backgrounds to deepen the understanding of graduate employability is
necessary (Huang, 2013). Hence, investigating employers’ perceptions of international graduates in relatively less diverse cultures like
the current research context (i.e., Japan) is an interesting research endeavor.
Some might have already realized that the current study’s procedure was not initially planned due to the outbreak of COVID-19.

8
S. Sato et al. Journal of Hospitality, Leisure, Sport & Tourism Education 28 (2021) 100306

The outbreak was still in effect during the final data collection. Although we asked experts to rate the importance of specific hard and
soft skills demanded in the sport industry after COVID-19, their responses should have been influenced by the uncertain situation. In
fact, their expectations toward HEI’s contribution after COVID-19 indicated relatively low intraclass correlation score (ICC = 0.53),
potentially indicating that response consistencies among experts are in question. Therefore, follow-up studies are needed to identify
graduate employability and the roles of HEIs in the COVID-19 era.

CRediT authorship contribution statement

Shintaro Sato: Conceptualization, data collection, Formal analysis, Writing – original draft, writing. Tae-Ahn Kang: Formal
analysis, contribution included data collection/analysis, manuscript editing. Ebe Daigo: contributed to analyzing data and reviewing
the manuscript. Hirotaka Matsuoka: collected data and approved the final version of the manuscript. Munehiko Harada: collected
data and approved the final version of the manuscript.

References

Allen, J., & Van der Velden, R. (2001). Educational mismatches versus skill mismatches: Effects on wages, job satisfaction, and on-the-job search. Oxford Economic
Papers, 53(3), 434–452. https://doi.org/10.1093/oep/53.3.434
Anderson, V. (2020). A digital pedagogy pivot: Re-thinking higher education practice from an HRD perspective. Human Resource Development International, 23(4),
452–467. https://doi.org/10.1080/13678868.2020.1778999
Andrews, J., & Higson, H. (2008). Graduate employability, ‘soft skills’ versus ‘hard’ business knowledge: A European study. Higher Education in Europe, 33(4),
411–422. https://doi.org/10.1080/03797720802522627
Angelucci, M., Angrisani, M., Bennett, D. M., Kapteyn, A., & Schaner, S. G. (2020). Remote work and the heterogeneous impact of covid-19 on employment and health (No.
w27749). National Bureau of Economic Research. https://doi.org/10.3386/w27749
Bakhshi, H., Downing, J. M., Osborne, M. A., & Schneider, P. (2017). The future of skills: Employment in 2030. Pearson.
Becker, G. (1964). Human capital. Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press.
Bennett, G., Henson, R. K., & Drane, D. (2003). Student experiences with service-learning in sport management. Journal of Experiential Education, 26(2), 61–69.
https://doi.org/10.1177/105382590302600203
Brekelmans, G., Poell, R. F., & van Wijk, K. (2013). Factors influencing continuing professional development: A Delphi study among nursing experts. European Journal
of Training and Development, 37(3), 313–325. https://doi.org/10.1108/03090591311312769
Buheji, M., & Buheji, A. (2020). Planning competency in the new Normal–employability competency in post-COVID-19 pandemic. International Journal of Human
Resource Studies, 10(2), 237–251. https://doi.org/10.5296/ijhrs.v10i2.17085
Cai, Y. (2013). Graduate employability: A conceptual framework for understanding employers’ perceptions. Higher Education, 65(4), 457–469. https://doi.org/
10.1007/s10734-012-9556-x
Chan, R. Y. (2020). Studying coronavirus (COVID-19) and global higher education: Evidence for future research and practice. https://ssrn.com/abstract=3622751 or
https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3622751 .
Chen, T. L., Shen, C. C., & Gosling, M. (2018). Does employability increase with internship satisfaction? Enhanced employability and internship satisfaction in a
hospitality program. Journal of Hospitality, Leisure, Sports and Tourism Education, 22, 88–99. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhlste.2018.04.001
Clarke, M. (2018). Rethinking graduate employability: The role of capital, individual attributes and context. Studies in Higher Education, 43(11), 1923–1937. https://
doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2017.1294152
Clarkson, B. G., Culvin, A., Pope, S., & Parry, K. D. (2020). Covid-19: Reflections on threat and uncertainty for the future of elite women’s football in England. In
Managing sport and leisure. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/23750472.2020.1766377.
Cohen, A., & Levine, J. (2016). “This class has opened up my eyes”: Assessing outcomes of a sport-for-development curriculum on sport management graduate
students. Journal of Hospitality, Leisure, Sports and Tourism Education, 19, 97–103. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhlste.2016.09.001
Cranmer, S. (2006). Enhancing graduate employability: Best intentions and mixed outcomes. Studies in Higher Education, 31(2), 169–184. https://doi.org/10.1080/
03075070600572041
Crawford, A., Weber, M. R., & Lee, J. (2020). Using a grounded theory approach to understand the process of teaching soft skills on the job so to apply it in the
hospitality classroom. Journal of Hospitality, Leisure, Sports and Tourism Education, 26, 100239. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhlste.2020.100239
Crossman, J. E., & Clarke, M. (2010). International experience and graduate employability: Stakeholder perceptions on the connection. Higher Education, 59, 599–613.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-009-9268-z
DeLuca, J. R., & Fornatora, E. (2020). Experiential learning from a classroom desk: Exploring student perceptions of applied coursework. Sport Management Education
Journal. https://doi.org/10.1123/smej.2019-0015
Dirani, K. M., Abadi, M., Alizadeh, A., Barhate, B., Garza, R. C., Gunasekara, N., et al. (2020). Leadership competencies and the essential role of human resource
development in times of crisis: A response to covid-19 pandemic. Human Resource Development International, 23(4), 380–394. https://doi.org/10.1080/
13678868.2020.1780078
Dixson, D. D. (2020). How hope measures up: Hope predicts school variables beyond growth mindset and school belonging. Current Psychology, 1–13. https://doi.org/
10.1007/s12144-020-00975-y
Doherty, A., Millar, P., & Misener, K. (2020). Return to community sport: Leaning on evidence in turbulent times. Managing Sport and Leisure. https://doi.org/
10.1080/23750472.2020.1794940. Advance online publication.
Dolton, P., & Vignoles, A. (2000). The incidence and effects of overeducation in the UK graduate labour market. Economics of Education Review, 19(2), 179–198.
https://doi.org/10.1016/S0272-7757(97)00036-8
Donthu, N., & Gustafsson, A. (2020). Effects of COVID-19 on business and research. Journal of Business Research, 117, 284–289. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.
jbusres.2020.06.008
Duncan, N. B. (1995). Capturing flexibility of information technology infrastructure: A study of resource characteristics and their measure. Journal of Management
Information Systems, 12(2), 37–57. https://doi.org/10.1080/07421222.1995.11518080
Eagleman, A. N., & McNary, E. L. (2010). What are we teaching our students? A descriptive examination of the current status of undergraduate sport management
curricula in the United States. Sport Management Education Journal, 4(1), 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1123/smej.4.1.1
Emery, P. R., Crabtree, R. M., & Kerr, A. K. (2012). The Australian sport management job market: An advertisement audit of employer need. Annals of Leisure Research,
15(4), 335–353. https://doi.org/10.1080/11745398.2012.737300
Fahrner, M., & Schüttoff, U. (2020). Analysing the context-specific relevance of competencies–sport management alumni perspectives. European Sport Management
Quarterly, 20(3), 344–363. https://doi.org/10.1080/16184742.2019.1607522
Fitzgerald, H., Stride, A., & Drury, S. (2020). COVID-19, lockdown and (disability) sport, Managing Sport and Leisure. Advance online publication https://doi.org/10.
1080/23750472.2020.1776950.
Fullagar, S. (2020). Recovery and regeneration in community sport: What can we learning from pausing play in a pandemic?. Retrieved from https://medium.com/
the-machinery-of-government/recovery-and-regeneration-incommunity-sport-9a217bd70aef.

9
S. Sato et al. Journal of Hospitality, Leisure, Sport & Tourism Education 28 (2021) 100306

Glendinning, M. (2020). Covid-19 ‘strengthens partnerships and accelerates digital innovation’ in Asian sponsorship. Retrieved from https://www.sportbusiness.com/
news/covid-19-strengthens-partnerships-and-accelerates-digital-innovation-in-asian-sponsorship/?registered_metered=1.
Green, F. (2013). Skills and skilled work: An economic and social analysis. Oxford University Press.
Griffiths, K., Bullough, S., Shibli, S., & Wilson, J. (2017). The impact of engagement in sport on graduate employability: Implications for higher education policy and
practice. International Journal of Sport Policy and Politics, 9(3), 431–451. https://doi.org/10.1080/19406940.2017.1359648
Hallowell, M. R., & Gambatese, J. A. (2010). Qualitative research: Application of the Delphi method to CEM research. Journal of Construction Engineering and
Management, 136(1), 99–107. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)CO.1943-7862.0000137
Harvey, L. (2001). Defining and measuring employability. Quality in Higher Education, 7(2), 97–109.
Hsieh, P. F. (2013). Curriculum planning of MICE course in continuing education. Journal of Hospitality, Leisure, Sports and Tourism Education, 13, 107–122. https://
doi.org/10.1016/j.jhlste.2013.08.002
Huang, R. (2013). International experience and graduate employability: Perceptions of Chinese international students in the UK. Journal of Hospitality, Leisure, Sports
and Tourism Education, 13, 87–96. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhlste.2013.07.001
Jackson, D. (2016). Developing pre-professional identity in undergraduates through work-integrated learning. Higher Education, 74, 833–853. https://doi.org/
10.1007/s10734-016-0080-2
Kadoya, Y., & Khan, M. S. R. (2020). What determines financial literacy in Japan? Journal of Pension Economics and Finance, 19(3), 353–371. https://doi.org/10.1017/
S1474747218000379
Kamaruddin, M. I. H., Ahmad, A., Husain, M. A., & Abd Hamid, S. N. (2020). Graduate employability post-COVID-19: The case of a Malaysian public university.
Higher Education, Skills and Work-Based Learning. Advance online publication https://doi.org/10.1108/HESWBL-05-2020-0114.
Keiper, M. C., Sieszputowski, J., Morgan, T., & Mackey, M. J. (2019). Employability skills a case study on a business-oriented sport management program. The e-
Journal of Business Education & Scholarship of Teaching, 13(1), 59–68.
King, Z. (2003). New or traditional careers? A study of UK graduates’ preferences. Human Resource Management Journal, 13(1), 5–26. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1748-
8583.2003.tb00081.x
Koo, T. K., & Li, M. Y. (2016). A guideline of selecting and reporting intraclass correlation coefficients for reliability research. Journal of Chiropractic Medicine, 15(2),
155–163. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcm.2016.02.012
Lindberg, M. E. (2007). At the frontier of graduate surveys. Higher Education, 53(5), 623–644. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-005-1672-4
Lord, R., Lorimer, R., Babraj, J., & Richardson, A. (2019). The role of mock job interviews in enhancing sport students’ employability skills: An example from the UK.
Journal of Hospitality, Leisure, Sports and Tourism Education, 25, 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhlste.2019.04.001
Majumdara, B., & Nahab, S. (2020). Live sport during the COVID-19 crisis: Fans as creative broadcasters. Sport in Society, 23(7), 1091–1099. https://doi.org/10.1080/
17430437.2020.1776972
Martino, J. (1983). Technological forecasting for decision making (2nd ed.). New York: Elsevier.
Mason, G., Williams, G., & Cranmer, S. (2009). Employability skills initiatives in higher education: What effects do they have on graduate labour market outcomes?
Education Economics, 17(1), 1–30. https://doi.org/10.1080/09645290802028315
Mathner, R. P., & Martin, C. L. (2012). Sport management graduate and undergraduate students’ perceptions of career expectations in sport management. Sport
Management Education Journal, 6(1), 21–31. https://doi.org/10.1123/smej.6.1.21
Minten, S. (2010). Use them or lose them: A study of the employability of sport graduates through their transition into the sport workplace. Managing Leisure, 15,
67–82. https://doi.org/10.1080/13606710903448061
Minten, S., & Forsyth, J. (2014). The careers of sports graduates: Implications for employability strategies in higher education sports courses. Journal of Hospitality,
Leisure, Sports and Tourism Education, 15, 94–102. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhlste.2014.06.004
Monnin, E. (2012). The olympic movement’s strategy for the integration of the concept of olympic education into the education system: The French example.
Educational Review, 64(3), 333–351. https://doi.org/10.1080/00131911.2012.689273
Parnell, D., Widdop, P., Bond, A., & Wilson, R. (2020). COVID-19, networks and sport, Managing Sport and Leisure. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/
10.1080/23750472.2020.1750100
Portney, L. G., & Watkins, M. P. (2009). Foundations of clinical research: Applications to practice (3rd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Prentice Hall.
de Prada Creo, E., Mareque, M., & Portela-Pino, I. (2020). The acquisition of teamwork skills in university students through extra-curricular activities. Education +
Training. https://doi.org/10.1108/ET-07-2020-0185
Pudelko, M. (2006). The seniority principle in Japanese companies: A relic of the past? Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources, 44(3), 276–294. https://doi.org/
10.1177/1038411106069412
Roberson, Q. M., Collins, C. J., & Oreg, S. (2005). The effects of recruitment message specificity on applicant attraction to organizations. Journal of Business and
Psychology, 19(3), 319–339. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10869-004-2231-1
Rupprecht, M., Birner, K., Gruber, H., & Mulder, R. H. (2011). Dealing with diversity in consulting teams: Results of two Delphi studies. Human Resource Development
International, 14(5), 561–581. https://doi.org/10.1080/13678868.2011.618348
Salas-Vallina, A., Ferrer-Franco, A., & Herrera, J. (2020). Fostering the healthcare workforce during the COVID-19 pandemic: Shared leadership, social capital, and
contagion among health professionals. The International Journal of Health Planning and Management. Advance online publication https://doi.org/10.1002/hpm.
3035.
Sato, S., Oshimi, D., Bizen, Y., & Saito, R. (2020). The COVID-19 outbreak and public perceptions of sport events in Japan. Managing Sport and Leisure. Advance
online publication https://doi.org/10.1080/23750472.2020.1773301.
de Schepper, J., & Sotiriadou, P. (2018). A framework for critical reflection in sport management education and graduate employability. Annals of Leisure Research, 21
(2), 227–245. https://doi.org/10.1080/11745398.2017.1336107
de Schepper, J., Sotiriadou, P., & Hill, B. (2020). The role of critical reflection as an employability skill in sport management. European Sport Management Quarterly.
https://doi.org/10.1080/16184742.2020.1742184. Advance online publication.
Schmidt, R., Lyytinen, K., Keil, M., & Cule, P. (2001). Identifying software project risks: An international Delphi study. Journal of Management Information Systems, 17
(4), 5–36. https://doi.org/10.1080/07421222.2001.11045662
Shaikh, A. A., & Usmani, G. (2020). Challenges faced by the sports sector in the world during the spread of COVID-19. In Prita D. Mallya & Rodney D’Silva, Impact of
COVID-19 crisis on the global economy and other sectors worldwide (pp. 9–20). Idea Publishing.
Streeter, C. (2020). COVID-19: Social isolation and optimism in sport. Retrieved from http://thesportjournal.org/article/covid-19-social-isolation-and-optimism-in-
sport/.
Suleman, F. (2018). The employability skills of higher education graduates: Insights into conceptual frameworks and methodological options. Higher Education, 76,
263–278. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-017-0207-0
Teichler, U. (2000). Graduate employment and work in selected European countries. European Journal of Education, 35(2), 141–156.
Teichler, U. (2009). Higher education and the world of work. Conceptual frameworks, comparative perspectives, empirical findings. The Netherlands: Sense Publishers.
Todd, S. Y., & Andrew, D. P. (2008). An exploratory investigation of sport management students’ attraction to sport jobs. International Journal of Sport Management and
Marketing, 4(4), 323–337. https://doi.org/10.1504/IJSMM.2008.022374
Todd, S. Y., Magnusen, M., Andrew, D. P., & Lachowetz, T. (2014). From great expectations to realistic career outlooks: Exploring changes in job seeker perspectives
following realistic job previews in sport. Sport Management Education Journal, 8(1), 58–70. https://doi.org/10.1123/SMEJ.2014-0005
Tomlinson, M. (2012). Graduate employability: A review of conceptual and empirical themes. Higher Education Policy, 25(4), 407–431. https://doi.org/10.1057/
hep.2011.26
Treleaven, L., & Voola, R. (2008). Integrating the development of graduate attributes through constructive alignment. Journal of Marketing Education, 30(2), 160–173.
https://doi.org/10.1177/0273475308319352

10
S. Sato et al. Journal of Hospitality, Leisure, Sport & Tourism Education 28 (2021) 100306

Tsitskari, E., Goudas, M., Tsalouchou, E., & Michalopoulou, M. (2017). Employers’ expectations of the employability skills needed in the sport and recreation
environment. Journal of Hospitality, Leisure, Sports and Tourism Education, 20, 1–9. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhlste.2016.11.002
Uğur, N. G., & Akbıyık, A. (2020). Impacts of COVID-19 on global tourism industry: A cross-regional comparison. Tourism Management Perspectives, 36, 100744.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tmp.2020.100744
Weber, M. R., Crawford, A., Lee, J., & Dennison, D. (2013). An exploratory analysis of soft skill competencies needed for the hospitality industry. Journal of Human
Resources in Hospitality & Tourism, 12(4), 313–332. https://doi.org/10.1080/15332845.2013.790245
Weber, M. R., Lee, J., & Crawford, A. (2020). A suggested best practices for enhancing performance of soft skills with entry-level hospitality managers. Anatolia, 31(1),
76–87. https://doi.org/10.1080/13032917.2019.1703770
Wiers-Jenssen, J. (2008). Does higher education attained abroad lead to international jobs? Journal of Studies in International Education, 12(2), 101–130. https://doi.
org/10.1177/1028315307307656
Winchester-Seeto, T., & Piggott, L. (2020). “Workplace’or workforce: What are we preparing students for? Journal of University Teaching and Learning Practice, 17(4),
1–6.
Yorke, M. (2006). Employability in higher education: What it is-what it is not. ESECT learning and employability series. York: Higher Education Academy.
Yoshino, N., Morgan, P. J., & Trinh, Q. L. (2017). Financial literacy in Japan: Determinants and impacts. Tokyo: Asian Development Bank Institute. ADBI Working Paper
796.
Zhang, J., Wang, J., Min, S. D., Chen, K. K., & Huang, H. (2016). Influence of curriculum quality and educational service quality on student experiences: A case study
in sport management programs. Journal of Hospitality, Leisure, Sports and Tourism Education, 18, 81–91. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhlste.2016.04.001

11