sustainability Article Exploring Factors That Influence Taekwondo Student Athletes’ Intentions to Pursue Careers Contributing to the Sustainability of the Korean Taekwondo Industry Using the Theory of Planned Behavior Yoo-Yeong Seonwoo 1 and Yun-Duk Jeong 2,* 1 College of Physical Education, Kyonggi University, 154-42 Gwanggyosan-ro, Yeongtong-gu, Suwon 16227, Korea;
[email protected] 2 College of General Education, Kookmin University, 77 Jeongneung-ro, Seongbuk-gu, Seoul 02707, Korea * Correspondence:
[email protected] Abstract: Due to recently declining fertility rates and the social climate of job preferences in profes- sional occupations in South Korea, the number of teenagers practicing elite Taekwondo has decreased, and Korean Taekwondo is in crisis. In this regard, it is essential for Taekwondo coaches to create a favorable environment preventing student athletes from abandoning careers in Taekwondo and for physical education researchers to explore factors directly or indirectly influencing the intentions to pursue such careers. Thus, the purpose of this study was to examine the structural relationships among mentoring, attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, and career pursuit inten- tions by applying the theory of planned behavior, as well as investigating the moderating influence Citation: Seonwoo, Y.-Y.; Jeong, Y.-D. of Taekwondo identification on these relationships. We collected data from athletes with more than a Exploring Factors That Influence year of elite Taekwondo experience attending one of 15 high schools in South Korea. We asked a total Taekwondo Student Athletes’ of 270 athletes to participate in the survey. Of these, 250 completed the survey. We eliminated data for Intentions to Pursue Careers 15 athletes due to repetitive response patterns; thus, we analyzed 235 usable responses.