More than a sport and volunteer organisation: Investigating social capital development in a sporting organisation

This paper presents the findings of a study that examines the development of social capital within an Australian sporting organisation, Surf Life Saving Australia (SLSA). The study draws on the social capital literature across the not-for-profit sector and specific sport management social capital research. The research design incorporated an interpretive approach with data collected nationally from eight focus groups with key SLSA staff, board members and ‘toes in the sand’ volunteers. The findings provide fresh insights into the development and understanding of social capital within a sporting organisation. Both bonding and bridging were important social capital outcomes of the organisation's activities, albeit with important implications for antecedents and process. The data presented strong evidence for arguing that within the organisation bonding within the club comes first, which importantly provides a very strong sense of belonging and mutual support for club members, from volunteers through to the board. The strength of bonding provides a powerful base for subsequent bridging capital to the local, regional and national stakeholder communities that are associated with the organisation. Further, social capital develops in both the collective and individual, with leveraging of individual skills contributing to human capital development, which is closely connected to and inseparable from social capital. The paper concludes by discussing the theoretical implications for social capital generally and social capital in a sporting context.     

The sport cluster concept as middle-range theory for the sport value framework

The Sport Value Framework provides a new logic for value creation in sport based on the Service-dominant logic. The Sport Value Framework is a general theory with high level of abstraction, and there is no middle-range theory yet to link it to empirical data. The purpose of this research is to provide one middle-range theory connecting empirical findings to the Sport Value Framework. The authors used a case study approach of a geographical localised sport industry. Primary data collection in the Auckland sailing industry included 27 interviews and observations at events. Secondary data include 13 documents of organisational information and archival data. Data were analysed with NVivo. The results suggest that the Sport Value Framework explains value creation within a localised sport industry. The middle-range theory between the authors’ data and the Sport Value Framework is the Sport Cluster Concept. Eight of the ten foundational premises of the Sport Value Framework are relevant to the case. The results confirm the Sport Cluster Concept as a middle-range theory to explain value creation in localised sport industries through the lenses of the Service-dominant logic. This research helps sport management practitioners to better understand value creation in localised sport industries. It suggests that sport management and marketing scholars should focus more on networks of actors and related inclusive empirical research designs rather than focusing on isolated elements and single actors of sport industries.     

Leader prototypicality in sport: The implicit leadership theories of women and men entering sport management careers

Implicit leadership theories (ILTs) matter because they are used as the benchmark against which people determine who is a leader and who is not. This assessment informs their behavioral responses. People are thought to have a superordinate-level ILT representing their prototypical mental model of leadership and a series of basic-level ILTs. Each of these represents how people conceptualize leadership in particular domains (e.g., sport, politics, and popular culture). In this study, the authors generate the structures of basic-level sport management ILTs for women and men who are about to enter this industry. These form the baseline from which socialization to work, organizational cultures, and the sport management industry begins. The ILTs of women entering sport management careers have a 35-item, 6-factor structure (Sensitivity, Knowledgeable, Physical Attractiveness, Inspirational, Dedication, and Focused), whereas men entering the industry have a 32-item, 7-factor structure (Sensitivity, Dedication, Physical Attractiveness, Focused, Creativity, Inspirational, Courageous). The resulting sport management ILT profiles differ from superordinate ones by emphasizing physical and vitality attributes, incorporating emotional elements, and by eschewing antiprototypical elements. The paper ends with a discussion of the implications for leadership research in sport management.     

Fast food,fizz, and funding: Balancing the scales of regional sport organisation sponsorship

Tobacco, alcohol and gambling-related sport sponsorships have faced widespread scrutiny due to a critical consciousness that questions the alignment of unhealthy products and damaging addictive behaviours with a healthy activity such as sport. The purpose of this study was to explore how a public health agenda may influence rugby union organisations in their negotiation of sponsorship relationships with food and beverage companies. Interviews with a purposeful sample of New Zealand regional rugby organisation managers reveal the potential influence of emergent threats about government-regulated restrictive sponsorship measures on the delivery of community and youth sport. Findings indicate that many regional rugby organisations depend on sponsorships to fund required and desired activities. In addition, some organisations in more rural regions of New Zealand not only contend with the difficulty of securing sponsorships, but fear that criticism of, and impending restrictions on, fast-food and beverage companies are likely to have detrimental consequences for the provision of rugby.     

Managing sport volunteers with a disability: Human resource management implications

Despite the known benefits of volunteering–such as helping others, contributing to community and the development of skills–individuals with a disability are underrepresented in volunteering roles. In this research, the authors examine the benefits and barriers to including volunteers with a disability in three Australian sport and recreation organisations, as well as the potential human resource management implications. The authors take a multi-level perspective and draw on interviews with sport volunteers with a disability, staff from sport organisations, and recipients of services from volunteers with a disability conducted in 2016–2017. Researchers have not previously examined these diverse perspectives, but they are important for understanding how to include and support sport volunteers with a disability. Analysis of the interviews revealed a wide range of benefits of including volunteers with a disability including social acceptance, social inclusion and personal development; but both volunteers and organisations identified numerous barriers to volunteering, including negative attitudes, personal factors, organisational factors and lack of social inclusion. Based on the results of this study, the authors develop recommendations for human resource management practices and policies to support volunteers with a disability in sport and recreation organisations, which are organised around an ability-motivation-opportunity framework. The results suggest that organisations need to create an environment that facilitates open, two-way communication with volunteers with a disability about their needs and wants. There also should be training and education to all volunteers and staff around an inclusive workplace culture.     

Autoethnography as a critical approach in sport management: Current applications and directions for future research

The purpose of this paper is to highlight the value of autoethnography as a qualitative methodology, document the current literature using autoethnographic approaches, and explore the possibilities for future research in the field of sport management. Using a critical lens to counter dominant ideologies that marginalize certain groups of people through the sustainment of existing power structures and inequities, we sought to address the following inquiries: What is autoethnography and how can it be applied to the critical study of sport management? In doing so, we will explore the benefits of the methodology to the field of sport management as well as the challenges and opportunities created in this form of reflexive study. We also offer suggestions for how to apply autoethnography to a variety of research purposes germane to the field of sport management.     

Towards a research agenda in collaborative sport governance

Collaborative governance has its origins in public administration and relates to cross-sector collaboration between parties who, by working together, may achieve common goals and more optimum outcomes than by working in isolation. The purpose of this paper is to explore the utility of collaborative governance as a relevant theoretical underpinning upon which to base future sport governance research focussed on the federal model of governance. To do this, we draw on an integrative framework of collaborative governance from the public administration literature to identify relevant research questions instructive for new research directions in sport governance. We offer evidence indicating that the federal model of sport governance is the type of network well-suited to the adoption of a collaborative governance regime but conclude there are barriers and challenges that could inhibit its implementation. The outcome of our work is a research agenda to guide research and theory development that may enhance our understanding of collaborative governance in sport, and of the barriers to its adoption and how they may be overcome.     

Introducing a Sport Experience Design (SX) framework for sport consumer behaviour research

Sport Management Review celebrates 20 years of publishing research, and this milestone provides an opportunity to reflect on sport consumer research and offer possible directions for scholarship. This article utilizes a panel of 17 academic scholars to examine sport consumer research published in SMR as an exemplar; and then, more broadly, how to enhance sport consumer research and identify future trends in the sport industry. This information, combined with an article analysis, revealed two key findings. First, the quality of scholarship was acknowledged with noted weaknesses related to improving and diversifying methodology, stronger attention to theoretical development, and relevance to industry. Second, traditional boundaries of sport consumer research will expand due to technology, a broadening sport landscape, and links to other academic disciplines. In order to account for industry trends and address noted theoretical limitations, a Sport Experience Design (SX) framework is introduced, which consists of three interrelated elements: (a) the sport context in which a sport consumer navigates through an experience and interacts with touchpoints, (b) the sport user, with mental processes, psychological needs, and personal characteristics, and (c) the sport organization, which produces the sport experience to achieve organizational goals. The framework provides a holistic consumer-centred approach that considers cognitive, organizational, and physical relevant design factors that enhance customer satisfaction and engagement by improving use and pleasure of sport experiences.     

Towards a critical sport heritage: implications for sport tourism

ABSTRACT

This paper reflects upon the development and increased acceptance for heritage becoming a key component of sport tourism research. The original sport heritage typology, as posited by Ramshaw and Gammon [2005, More than just Nostalgia? Exploring the heritage/sport tourism nexus. Journal of Sport & Tourism, 10(4), 229–241], is re-examined through a more critical lens, revealing additional dimensions that help augment its key components. More specifically, it is argued that future studies should consider the more intangible features of sport heritage, as well as acknowledging the expanding global nature of sport and its impact upon fandom. Also, the case is made for research to explore the dissonance inherent in much of sports heritage, as well as determining where the power lies in allocating and championing current sport heritages. Lastly, the more general implications to the field of sport tourism are offered with particular regard to motivation, place, and consumption.     

Gambling on sport sponsorship: A conceptual framework for research and regulatory review

Commercial gambling providers (CGPs) have recently intensified the promotion of their products and services through sport sponsorship. Consequently, gambling products and services now gain substantial exposure to large audiences via media broadcasts of sport. Due to the mainstream appeal of some sports, television audiences and fan-bases can include youth, at-risk and problem gamblers, who may be prompted to gamble, or to increase their gambling, by the direct marketing, alignment of gambling with a ‘healthy’ activity and increased normalisation of gambling. Therefore, sport sponsorship by CGPs promotes a potentially risky behaviour and may exacerbate the public health issue of problem gambling. Regulatory measures have been implemented by governments and private organisations in relation to sport sponsorship by tobacco companies in recognition of the potential harmful impacts of this form of marketing. Subsequently, the involvement of ‘unhealthy products’ including alcohol, junk food and gambling in sport sponsorship has been publicly questioned. This may lead to further regulatory changes that would directly affect the management of sport organisations. Few studies have examined these issues and there is little knowledge of the impacts that sport sponsorship arrangements have on society. Research is needed to inform prudent decision-making about the appropriate regulation of sport sponsorship. This paper reviews the current gambling sport sponsorship landscape and proposes a conceptual framework aimed at facilitating a systematic, interdisciplinary research agenda for examining corporate social responsibility issues pertinent to the sponsorship of sport by CGPs.     

Design archetype utility for understanding and analyzing the governance of contemporary national sport organizations

More than 30 years has passed since the foundational works of the late Trevor Slack and his colleagues first appeared using design archetypes to explore change dynamics amongst National Sport Organizations. The scale and nature of change that has continued to occur in the operating environment for these organizations over the last three decades has resulted in NSOs increasingly being required to be more professional, to manage more complex sport delivery systems, and strategically adapt and change to be effective. In that context, the authors explore the contemporary nature of NSO design archetypes in order to better understand the current and emerging dynamics of change for these organizations. This conceptual paper reviews the theory and utility of design archetypes in helping to understand organizational change dynamics in relation to NSOs, revisits the work of Slack and others in order to identify ways to improve the representation of design archetypes for contemporary NSOs, and presents an argument for a renewed emphasis on design archetypes as a fundamental driver for future research efforts to help understand change within NSOs, and indeed, other sport organizations.     

Responses to multi-level institutional complexity in a national sport federation

National Sport Federations are responsible for governing all aspects of a sport within their respective countries. In developing and promoting their sport National Federations must respond to multi-level complexity arising from internal stakeholder needs and commercial, government and social demands. While organisational complexity responses have been extensively researched, little of this work has considered the unique positioning of sport federations. Drawing on the theoretical perspective of institutional logics and complexity, the authors adopted a case study approach to investigate Triathlon Australia’s response to its complex operating environment, conducting 18 in-depth semi-structured interviews with current and former board members, chief executives, senior managers, and government representatives responsible for national sport policy and funding. Interview data were complemented with an examination of Triathlon Australia’s annual reports and Australian government policy documents (1998–2016 period). Four themes and several organisational responses’ themes emerged from the inductive and iterated thematic data analysis: (a) external complexity – alignment, diversification, transcendence, negotiation; (b) interstitial complexity – empathy, formalisation, collaboration, specialisation; (c) internal complexity – division, balance, leverage; and (d) emotions – connection, harness. Driven by quasi-insolvency and admission into the Olympic programme, and national government policy requirements for funding, Triathlon Australia responded to its complex environment by embracing all logics, designs and agendas, unravelling new ways to solve or mitigate it via hybrid responses. Implications for both theory and practice are outlined.     

The impact of social interaction and team member exchange on sport event volunteer management

In the present study, the authors aim to understand the sport event volunteer experience in the context of social interaction and its effect on volunteers’ team member exchange and future intentions. Sport event volunteers (N = 150) in the Northeast region in the United States participated in the survey. The partial least squares method of structural equation modeling was used to test the hypotheses. Results indicate that online social interaction ties significantly affect team member exchange, which in turn, predicts volunteers’ intentions to repeat volunteering and also spread positive word-of-mouth about volunteering experience to potential volunteers. The current research specifically demonstrates that establishing social interaction ties through social media promotes positive team member exchange that further impacts volunteers’ future intentions. The research findings also imply that social media can be a cost-effective volunteer management tool in terms of volunteer recruitment and for relatively smaller sport organizations that are generally confronted with limited resources.     

Mind games: The inclusion of trivia as a sport in the Pan Pacific Masters Games

This case follows Shane Walters, who was successful in his proposal to have trivia included as a sport in the Pan Pacific Masters Games. Shane is now tasked with planning, programming, and delivering a sport programme, as well as marketing the programme to potential participants. The case is particularly relevant for courses that cover event planning, event marketing, and event tourism. The case is applicable to both undergraduate and postgraduate courses.     

The antecedents and consequences of positive organizational behavior: The role of psychological capital for promoting employee well-being in sport organizations

A positive approach to addressing mental health issues in workplaces advocates the examination of an untapped resource—psychological capital—as a potential positive construct in contemporary organizational behavior. The authors tested various antecedents and outcomes of psychological capital, and examined the role of this construct in psychological well-being and job satisfaction among sport employees. To test 11 hypotheses, the researchers recruited 708 employees from the athletic departments of Division I institutions. Results indicate that the meaningful work of employees and a supportive organizational climate positively influenced psychological capital, thereby leading to high levels of job satisfaction and psychological well-being. Psychological capital also functioned either as a partial mediator or as a full mediator. In this study, the authors offer a new perspective on sport employees’ mental health outcomes, with particular emphasis on positive organizational behavior in sport settings.     

Acceptance,motivations, and usage of social media as a marketing communications tool amongst employees of sport national governing bodies

National governing bodies (NGB) of sport are not-for-profit organisations that typically receive less mainstream media coverage and have much smaller marketing budgets than mainstream professional sports. Therefore, they must seek alternative methods from mainstream media and traditional marketing in order to increase brand awareness and reach fans and stakeholders. While all sport organisations stand poised to benefit from social media, NGBs seem to be a segment of the sport industry uniquely positioned to capitalise on social media's benefits. Because there is currently no known literature on NGBs’ use of social media, this study examined the role that social media plays within NGBs in the United States including employees’ acceptance of social media, motivations to use social media, and the organisation's current usage of social media. An online survey was distributed to NGB employees in the spring of 2012, and results revealed that contrary to studies on other sport organisations, NGB employees reported high levels of acceptance and motivation to use social media regardless of demographic factors. Additionally, NGBs seemed to use social media as a communications tool to a greater degree than as a marketing tool. Implications for international and niche sport organisations are presented in the conclusion.     

A moral basis for prohibiting performance enhancing drug use in competitive sport

A strong moral reason for prohibiting doping in sport is to be found in the bad choices that would be faced by clean athletes in a sporting world that tolerated doping. The case against doping is not, however, to be grounded in the concept of coercion. Instead, it is grounded in a general duty of sport to afford fair opportunity to the goods that are distinctively within sport's sphere of control. The moral reason to prohibit doping need not be balanced against any autonomy claim of athletes who would prefer to dope because, upon closer examination, such claims have no force. The moral reason to prohibit doping does, however, need to be balanced against the enforcement costs imposed on all athletes by effective prohibition.     

Selling out (in) sport management: practically evaluating the state of the American (Sporting) Union

When teaching in Sport Management programs professors are often forced to respond to the actions and teachings of professionals in the field. According to the study by Kincheloe & Steinberg many of these normalized and, indeed celebrated, behaviors are actions that are part and parcel of the ‘recovery movement’ which (re)inscribe new forms of colonization, sexism, racism, classism and so on. Given that these performances are often considered ‘good business practice’, it is now more important than ever to challenge these conventions in what has been termed the post-neoliberal moment.

This paper, therefore, analyzes and explains how the mundane recycling of borrowed thought has seeped into America's collegiate educational system—particularly in sport management programs. It does so through a critical examination of Amber's educational and pre-professional experience as an intern for various sporting constituencies. Further, we examine the disguised precedence and obligatory requisites of the sporting industry, which use exploitative and manipulative marketing tactics to fabricate a hyperreal milieu of sporting production and consumption. Given this context, the project at present seeks to (re)evaluate just what we, as teachers, owe our students as they venture into an economy facing ‘hard times’.     

Image recovery from negative media coverage of a sport event: Destination,venue, and event considerations

The successful hosting of test events in the lead-up to a major event is not only a useful logistical tool and systems evaluation, but also signals to the world that the host city is ready and competent to host the main event. With the intense scrutiny of the media on all aspects of the venue, the city, and the competition, test events offer the potential for a city to establish (or enhance) its reputation as an event host, or to create doubt in its ability to host major events. The case follows the media coverage of the 2014 Pan Pacific Swimming Championships held on the Gold Coast Queensland, Australia, which served as a test event for the newly renovated Gold Coast Aquatics Centre in the lead-up to the 2018 Commonwealth Games. The case considers the implications and impacts of negative media coverage of an international event on the destination image of the host city. The case highlights the need for image recovery strategies for stakeholders within the destination who are concerned with the city's ability to host international sport events.     

Teaching for transformative educational experience in a sport for development program

Despite the assumption that Sport for Development and Peace programs can foster social change, many fail to provide intentional educational experiences. This limits the attainment and sustainability of positive outcomes for participants and communities. The literature calls for such programs to use sport as an educational tool that shifts power to participants in a way that is responsive and respectful to the local context. In this article, we present findings from a program designed to promote youth development and social change through youth sport in a Central American nation. The teaching personal and social responsibility (TPSR) model provides the instructional framework for this program and local coach training was guided by the principles of critical pedagogy. Participants were eight youth sport coaches who became local trainers in the program. Data sources include interviews, observations and artifacts. Participants appeared to have meaningful educational experiences characterized by the following themes: reframing the coach's role; personal reflection; developing a critical perspective; and increasing feelings of agency. Findings indicate that in this program, TPSR was a relevant instructional framework that combined effectively with the principles of critical pedagogy to foster transformative learning among the participants.