Research Methods for Sport Management

James Skinner, Allan Edwards, Ben Corbett

• Verlag: Routledge
• Jahr: 2014
• ISBN:
  9781135147952
• Auflage: 1
• Thema: Negocios y empresa
• Thema: Negocios en general

Research methods courses have become a compulsory component of most degree programs in sport management. This is the first introductory research methods textbook to focus exclusively on sport management. Through the use of examples, cases and data taken from the real world of sport management it opens up a traditionally dry area of study, helping the student to understand the vital importance of sound methodology in their studies and subsequent professional practice.

The book covers the full range of quantitative and qualitative methods across the whole span of the research process, from research design and the literature review to data analysis and report writing. Every chapter contains a range of useful features to aid student learning, including summaries, discussion questions and guides to further resources, as well as examples drawn from contemporary sport around the world. Research Methods for Sport Management is an essential course text for all sport management students and an invaluable reference for any sport management professional involved in operational research.

Part 1 Overview of the Sport Management Research process

1 Basic principles of Sport Management Research

DOI: 10.4324/9780203856123-1

James Skinner, Allan Edwards & Ben Corbett

What is Sport Management Research?

Sport managers strive for organizational improvement and this requires an ability to identify problems, to address these and search for potential solutions. To achieve this, sport managers can spend a great deal of time evaluating other people's research, deciding what the strengths and weaknesses are in each case, and hoping to apply their conclusions to their own reading and to the procedures they follow in their research. The world of sport, however, poses many unique and novel problems that are not experienced in business, government or charity work – for example very few managers will ever deal with an employee who can prove they are the best in the world at their job. As such, sport managers, perhaps even more than other types of manager, need to look carefully at the claims of others, judging for themselves whether or not those claims are convincing and reliable. To do that, they need to understand the process by which other researchers have come to their conclusions, and this means understanding both their methodologies and the intellectual frameworks within which they have operated.

In this book the concept of research means the systematic collection, analysis and interpretation of data to answer a certain question or solve a problem. All the italicized words attach specific meaning in the steps of actually developing and executing a research project. At its basic level, research is a way of investigating problems with the aim of finding solutions to those problems, or at least raising questions and issues that future researchers will investigate. The same is true of Sport Management Research, which devises questions relating to specific problems or issues in the field, and then devises methods by which these problems or issues can be answered (or at least better understood). This process is important because it can add knowledge about sport management issues, improve sport management practices, inform sport management policy issues and become a catalyst for complex thinking, informed communication and toleration for competing paradoxes.

What Makes Sport Management Research Different?

Sport management is a nexus. The discipline was rooted and grown in university Health or Exercise Science departments that saw the need to study and educate ‘sport people’ in sport organization governance (i.e. the management of high performance development systems and grassroots club participation). As sport management expanded, alliances with business researchers and courses became more common to the point that business schools began to offer a sport management degree. There are numerous universities that offer a sport management degree, yet it continues to spread across business and health schools, highlighting the interdisciplinary connection.

As Smith and Stewart (2010) described, sport has been divided between two opposite viewpoints, but actually lies somewhere in the middle:

At one extreme, sport is viewed as a unique cultural institution with a host of special features wherein the reflexive application of standard business practices not only produces poor management decision making, but also erodes its rich history, emotional connections, tribal links, and social relevance. At the other extreme, sport is seen to be nothing more than just another generic business enterprise subject to the usual government regulations, market pressures and customer demands, and is best managed by the application of standard business tools that assist the planning, finance, human resource management and marketing functions. (p. 1)

It is not hard to suggest from this statement that the sport purists (born in the Health Science Schools) side with the first extreme, and the management purists (born in Business Schools) side with the second extreme. The truth does lie in the middle, with theory and research frameworks from health and business borrowed, adapted or amalgamated in the study of sport issues.

The convergence of disciplines occurs not just between health and business schools, but also within the business school disciplines. Economics, marketing, strategy, finance, organizational behaviour, sustainability, human resources, law and politics to mention some, are all topics a sport management researcher can both simultaneously apply to existing business theory and diverge within a unique sport context. While sport often, and more frequently, operates in a business setting, there are significant theoretical and practical variations that require a sport management researcher to alter traditional business viewpoints. For example, can a model designed to explore marketing practices to business ‘customers’ easily transition to study sport ‘fans’? The sport management discipline offers researchers a wide variety of business studies within the inimitable and complex contexts of sport. Smith and Stewart (2010) noted the following special features of sport that separate it from institutionalized business principles:

• ■ the fusion of loyalty, identification and irrational optimism;
• ■ the tension between winning and profit-making;
• ■ transforming the sport-field into a workplace;
• ■ the dilemma of corporate sport;
• ■ the need to balance variable quality against competitive balance;
• ■ the crucial importance of setting up structures for collaborative behaviour among competing interests;
• ■ supply chain restrictions (i.e. on-field performance);
• ■ managing the fishbowl-experience of players;
• ■ managing players as income earning assets;
• ■ the confounding influence of league structures.

Finally, sport management offers a connection to other disciplines, such as tourism, entertainment and leisure. The globalization of sport and the continued rise of mega-sport events affects tourism, and the principles of tourism can be applied to sport tourists – whether it be direct and indirect tourism, triple bottom line (economic, social, environmental) impacts or the legacy left by showcasing host regions. Sports have always been entertainment for the masses, competing against other forms of arts, music and films. However, they also converge closer than ever in the new millennium with sport often combining with other entertainment options to leverage additional viewers. Entertainment is a form of leisure, but the connections to leisure extend further, and range from spectatorship to community sport participation.

Why do Sport Management Research?

Research and reflection are essential in any discipline if that discipline is to grow in a positive and beneficial way. Thomas, Nelson and Silverman (2005) asserted:

one of the primary distinctions between a discipline or profession and trade is that the trade deals only with how to deal with something, whereas the discipline or profession concerns itself not only with how but also with why something should be done in a certain manner and why it should even be done (p. 6).

The same authors go on to discuss some of the problems associated with research and its applicability to practitioners and professionals in sport management: problems directly affecting Sport Management Research and sport management practitioners. In particular, they discuss the language and jargon of research, which can be at times too technical, too unfamiliar and, dare we say, too ‘academic’. Additionally, practitioners may not always see the relevance to the work they are actually undertaking. These are all concerns that the sport management researcher should heed before embarking on their research project. They should ask some important questions of themselves: Is this topic relevant? Who will benefit from this research? If the answers to these questions are that the topic is of relevance only to the researcher, and the researcher her/himself is the primary beneficiary of the research outcome, then serious consideration should be given before proceeding down this particular path.

Sport Management Research can add important information to the discipline's knowledge base. Such information, where relevant, can be drawn on by other researchers, practitioners, policy makers, and even other stakeholders such as club members, athletes, fans, existing and potential sponsors, advertisers, marketers and any other interested member of the general public. For the researcher, a particular research study may be on a topic or issue previously ignored, or perhaps on a ‘new’ topic that had never been considered before. The research may also build on previous research studies, providing results to confirm or extend the previous study, or even to question its findings. This is true of any academic discipline and sport management is no exception. A research report might provide a study that has not been conducted and thereby fill a void in existing knowledge. It can also provide additional results to confirm or disconfirm results of prior studies.

Research can assist in advancing organizational practices through suggesting new ideas to improve organizational effectiveness and efficiencies. It can help practitioners evaluate approaches that they hope will work in their own management settings and at a broader level create relationships between sport managers who may be trying out similar ideas in different locations. Research also informs conversations, for example by influential policy makers, which might directly impact on sport managers. For example, policy decisions relating to drugs in sport or the funding of youth sport in deprived areas. Research can help the policy makers weigh up various perspectives and make informed decisions: decisions that therefore should be fair, contextualized, responsible and (hopefully) effective.

Trends in Sport Management

We have set forth what makes Sport Management Research different and the reasons for conducting Sport Management Research. But what are the current trends in sport management that a future researcher has the opportunity to study? Some broad environmental trends have opened research opportunities to many of the same disciplines we discussed above, and include technological advancements, commercialization and globalization. Each of these trends affects sport, and often in different ways than in business or health. In addition, each trend compounds with the others creating a complex web of pressures for change.

Technological advancements have made the quantity and quality of sport engagement swell. It is easier than ever (and will continue to get easier) to watch sport on television, computers and mobile devices. This has led to a global audience for many sport teams and leagues, increasing the commercialization of these properties. Fan engagement via the Internet, especially on social media websites, provides an opportunity to build stronger relationships with a global audience and expand sponsorship sales. However, the global demand drives up player costs and broadcast rights fees – which are also increased because the quantity and quality of offsite spectating is reducing the growth rate in onsite spectating. Gate receipts, formerly the largest revenue generator for sports, have fallen behind broadca...

Inhaltsverzeichnis

• Cover Page
• Research Methods for Sport Management
• Foundations of Sport Management
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table Of Contents
• Figures
• Tables
• List of abbreviations
• PART 1 Overview of the Sport Management Research process
• PART 2 Qualitative research for sport management researchers
• PART 3 Quantitative research for sport management researchers
• PART 4 Alternative approaches to Sport Management Research
• References
• Index