Assessing sport management journals : a multi-dimensional examination

The rating of refereed journals has become important for academics and institutions as well as for sport management as a field of study. This paper argues that the dearth of a rating system in sport management works against the best interests of the development of the field. This paper presents a rating scheme for sport management journals, which replicates an earlier study of marketing journals, using weighted multi-dimensional perceptual ratings (Polonsky & Whitelaw, 2006). Forty-five senior sport management academics evaluated 13 journals on four criteria: journal prestige, contribution to theory, contribution to practice and contribution to teaching. Using the weighted scores of the four criteria for each journal and a supporting cluster analysis, four categories of journals were identified. The results of this study will assist academics as they argue the case for the quality of journals in which they publish. Further it facilitates evaluation of sport management journals in relation to one another on the basis of their overall ranking and their scores on the four individual criteria.

The impact of technology on the supply of sport broadcasting

The demand for sport content by broadcasting organizations has undergone a major redefinition in the last 15-20 years. Television has become predominantly a private good, subject to deregulation and technological revolution. The traditional approach to presenting sport content predominantly live and exclusive through one distribution channel has evolved considerably into one represented now by a multi-faceted, multi-organizational approach. This paper will introduce the two markets of sport and broadcasting through the supply network of broadcasting rights and sports programming, and how this network is affected by the emerging broadcasting technology that is appearing in the digital environment. The era of digital broadcasting creates a significant alteration to the supply of broadcasting content developed by professional sport leagues, competitions and events. A number of emerging distribution system components linked to the digital environment can be identified and associated with sport broadcasting, all of which are having a profound impact on the way sport is being presented now and into the future. The various distribution components are introduced and examined in terms of their impact on the professional sport broadcasting markets. Each distribution component is addressed from the perspective of the regulatory, marketing, and economic impacts on channel management that apply.

Evaluating sport club board performance : a customer perspective

Customers are overlooked often as a stakeholder group when it comes to assessing board performance. To gain insight into the factors that affect customer perceptions of non-profit board performance, over 20,000 members from 14 different professional, non-profit sporting clubs were surveyed. The results suggest that sporting club boards are evaluated primarily in line with perceptions specifically related to their administrative effectiveness, although the on-field performance of the team is a contributing and correlated factor. Board performance and on -field performance perceptions were both direct contributors to overall member satisfaction, with board performance being the stronger. Perceptions of board performance are clearly worth managing in a holistic manner.

Career planning and development in elite sport : an AFL perspective

This paper examines career development in elite sport, specifically the perceptions of Australian Football League (AFL) players on the career development programs offered by the AFL Players Association. HRM literature reveals considerable research in the area of career planning and development. There is however a paucity of research into career planning for elite athletes in Australia. While overseas studies indicate a lack of career planning by elite athletes for their life after sport, that is not the findings of this research. This pilot study reveals that AFL Players not only recognise the need for and value of career planning, they actively utilise the AFL Players Association, Player Development program, in particular the training and development and guidance aspects of the program, This research is useful because it provides feedback to those who formulate such programs to better cater for and create more focused programs. It also provides the basis for further research across the sport and the potential to test its applicability across other elite sports.

Information warfare: using the viable system model as a framework to attack organisations

Information is the glue in any organization. It is needed for policy, decision-making, control, and co-ordination. If an organisation's information systems are disrupted or destroyed, then damage to the whole inevitably follows. This paper uses a proven systemic, analytic framework the Viable System Model (VSM) - in a functionalist mode, to analyse the vulnerabilities of an organisation's information resources to this form of aggression. It examines the tactics available, and where they can be used to effectively attack an organisation.

Sport consumer typologies : a critical review

The desire to understand the behavior of sport consumers has been a long-standing goal for sport marketers. This paper critically examines models of sport consumption by undertaking a comparative analysis of the major works completed to the present time. It is suggested that while past works have identified important motivational and behavioral differences, they frequently provide only partial explanations of sport consumer behavior. They are often constrained by an overemphasis on social-psychological traits, and give only limited attention to the cultural and economic context in which behaviors take place. Moreover, they rarely explain how fans might move between different segments, or how relationships with sport teams are formed in the first place. Sport consumer research will be enhanced by a more holistic analysis of values and beliefs that illuminates some of the more shadowy aspects of sport consumer formation, commitment, identity, and game attendance patterns.

The link between self-managed work teams and learning organisations using performance indicators

Both the learning organization literature and the self-managed work team literature have alluded to the potential links between teamwork and learning. However, as yet the link between these two concepts remains undeveloped. This study uses a survey of a random sample of 200 Australian organizations to empirically examine the relationships between self-managed work teams and the learning organization using performance indicators as a medium. It was found that the learning organization concept displays a moderate to strong link with three measures of performance used in this study: knowledge performance, financial performance and customer satisfaction. Although the self-managed work team concept did not display any significant relationship with performance, the qualitative component of the survey did emphasize that there is a common belief that self-managed teams can increase performance in the right setting. While an insignificant relationship between self-managed teams and the learning organization was also found, this study suggests some methodological concerns for future research into the relationship between self-managed teams and the learning organization.

Sport management: varying directions towards the narrative

Until now sport managers have had difficulties in identifying core issues that form the framework for successful sport management practice. The purpose of this study was to explore what sport managers believe are the core issues that can contribute to successful sport management practice. This was achieved through an examination of the narrative experiences of 7 sport managers (4 male and 3 female) that highlighted how narrative can be used to enhance a sport manager's understanding of their work environment through critical reflection. Through this examination the overriding issues that the participating sport managers believed provided a unique insight into their everyday lives centered on: (1) experience and power, (2) accountability; (3) demands of the job; (4) professional development; (5) ways of knowing; (6) collegiality; and (7) critical reflection. This narrative approach to understanding the lived experiences of sport managers allowed the researchers to connect theory with experience and to establish a relationship between daily practice and knowledge. Understanding the lived experiences of sport managers in this way can allow sport managers to establish new insights into how they interact with their sport organizations and the individuals and communities they serve in their daily operations. The following paper concludes by suggesting that through an increased interest in narrative as a way of knowing the stories disclosed may move other sport managers to share their own stories and experiences to assist in framing their own identity. Moreover, by prompting other sport managers to tell their stories, a deeper understanding of how professionals continue to grow and advance their sport management knowledge may be promoted. These narratives also taught us about deepening and extending our understanding of how sport managers construct meaning. In this way, new insights may be derived about the practice of sport management and how important it is to adding new knowledge for the discipline.

Towards a critical theory of sport management

This article argues for the theoretical and practical possibilities of applying critical theory to sport management research.

Stakeholders and strategic planning in non-profit organisations : case studies in complexity and conflict

The experiences of two Australian non-profit member-benefit associations as they attempt to develop strategic plans are explored, with emphasis on the influence of the many stakeholders in this process. We conclude that
corporate strategic planning is a complex, conflict-ridden, and largely
unsuccessful process in non-profit member-benefit associations because of the number and commitment of stakeholders. Therefore we suggest that future research should focus on clarifying whether such corporate management techniques are actually appropriate for all non-profit organisations, and, if they are, how non-profit organisations can best manage the process, taking into account the values and needs of stakeholders.

Understanding the Components in Social Behavioural Change: Implications for Non-profit Organisations

In this paper we investigate the relationship between intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation and government influence with the over riding objective of developing more effective and efficient social behavioural change programs that have been instigated by public sector environmental management organisations. Based on the notion of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, which has previously been shown to explain altitudes and behaviour associated with environmental issues, we extend the analysis in this paper to include the influence of government. A survey of a random sample of 566 landmanagers in South-eastern Australia was conducted and the data collected subsequently analysed using a structural equation modelling approach. The model that was developed identified the relationship between intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation and government influence.

Traditional Australian media organisations adoption of the World Wide Web

The aim of this paper is it to identify whether Australian media companies moved online with a clear business model in mind or in an ad-hoc manner. In-depth interviews were conducted with four Interact media managers from two large Australian media organisations. All four had been involved in Web publishing from its early stages and had extensive knowledge of the development of Web publishing in the industry. The interviews focused on the period around the mid 1990's when the early development of the organisations' websites took place. We also review an analytical approach of examining narratives from research interviews developed by Davidson (Davidson 1997) and Mishler (Mishler1986a, 1986b).