Employment within Sport & Physical Activity Sector:‎ A Study on Personal Trainer and Fitness Instructor in Malaysia

Abstract

Employment within Sport & Physical Activity Sector: A Study on Personal Trainer and Fitness Instructor in Malaysia

Norkamarul Norzam Global Sport Management, Department of Physical Education The Graduate School Seoul National University

In 2013, a study by UK medical journal revealed that almost half of Malaysian women and nearly 45% of men are overweight or obese. This shocking finding became an eye-opener to the government as well as the society. To tackle this issue, Malaysian government has included gym membership as one of the lifestyle tax exemption under Malaysian Budget 2017. As a result, more and more Malaysian have signed up for a gym membership in order to become healthy. Once in a gym, personal trainer and fitness instructor play a major role in changing societys habit inclusive but not limited to a workout and a diet plan. The purpose of this study is to find out the characteristics of personal trainer and fitness instructor and the employment opportunity of both group. Additionally, this study would like to find out the personal values that affects job satisfactions among PT and FI. This study used a mix method (quantitative and qualitative) approach to get the finding. Six personal trainers and four fitness instructors were interviewed using a semi-structured questions. Furthermore, a total of 75 respondents were participating in the Google Docs online survey. Upon completion of the study, we found that the characteristics of these two occupations are almost similar for instance educating, changing behaviour, and passionate. There are some differences between the characteristics which are qualification needed, income and occupation status. It is shown that personal trainers have better employment opportunity compare to fitness instructor due to their education background, pay rate and society acceptance. Both occupation shows relatively high level of job satisfaction. What we found interesting is that their job satisfaction were affected by two categories which are Task-Oriented Values and Status Quo Values. There are nine values included which are aggressive, diligence, initiative, cautious, economical, formal, logic, obedience and orderly.

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Keywords: Personal Trainer and Fitness Instructor, Characteristics, Employment, Job Satisfaction, Personal Values Student Number: 2015-22351