Social inclusion in sports clubs across Europe: determinants of social innovation

Abstract

Based on the multi-dimensional framework of Damanpour and Schneider [2006. “Phases of the Adoption of Innovation in Organizations: Effects of Environment, Organization and Top Managers 1.” British Journal of Management 17 (3): 215–236], the purpose of this study is to identify the managerial, organizational and environmental determinants of social innovation, depicted in terms of the amount of special initiatives initiated for specific target groups. while considering the initiative's type (i.e. administrative versus technical). A lognormal double hurdle model, on a sample of approximately 5000 voluntary sports clubs (VSCs) from 9 different European countries, indicates significant effects for each level. In particular, positive managerial attitudes and public support through both financial and infrastructural resources are important predictors for a VSC to adopt special initiatives towards a target group. Furthermore, differences between determinants of administrative and technical initiatives are found. These results call for measures in terms of resource support from sports policy-makers at European, national and regional levels, along with the need for VSCs to meet the demands from neglected target groups.

Keywords:

• social innovation
• special initiatives
• voluntary sports clubs (VSCs)
• determinants of innovation
• technical innovation
• administrative innovation

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to acknowledge the valuable contribution to this article from research partners in the project “Social Inclusion and Volunteering in Sports Clubs in Europe” (SIVSCE): Karsten Elmose-Østerlund & Bjarne Ibsen, University of Southern Denmark; Elien Claes, KU Leuven, Belgium; Geoff Nichols, University of Sheffield, England; Dirk Steinbach, Leadership Academy, Germany; Jan-Willem van der Roest & Harold van der Werff, Mulier Institute, the Netherlands; Ørnulf Seippel, Norwegian School of Sport Sciences; Monika Piątkowska & Sylwia Gocłowska, Josef Pilsudski University of Physical Education in Warsaw, Poland; Siegfried Nagel & Jenny Adler Zwahlen, University of Bern, Switzerland. The authors are grateful to Chris Heim for the language revision and to the anonymous reviewers for their valuable feedback in developing this article.

Notes on contributors

J. Corthouts graduated in 2017 as a Master in Physical Education and Kinesiology (KU Leuven). Since graduating, he worked as a scientific researcher within the Policy in Sports & Physical Activity Research Group. Currently, he prepares as a PhD candidate a thesis with a focus on innovation within the non-profit sports sector as part of the the Flemish Policy Research Centre on Sports 2017–2022.

E. Thibaut (PhD, KU Leuven, Belgium) is a post-doctoral researcher in Policy in Sports & Physical Activity Research Group at KU Leuven, Belgium. Dr Thibaut’s primary research interests focus on the time and money that is spent on sports participation.

C. Breuer is a full professor of sport management at German Sport University Cologne. Moreover, he is vice president for resources, planning and quality management at German Sport University Cologne. From 2006 to 2011, he was simultaneously research professor at German Institute for Economic Research (DIW Berlin). His main research areas are organization and economics of sport. He has published more than 120 research articles in international peer-reviewed journals, has authored 30 books and more than 230 book chapters.

S. Feiler is a researcher at the Institute of Sport Economics and Sport Management at the German Sport University in Cologne, Germany. She is responsible for managing a large-scale panel study on nonprofit sports clubs in Germany, the Sport Development Report. The project contains regular online surveys on nonprofit sports clubs in Germany and their various stakeholders (members, coaches, board members, referees). Her main research interests are nonprofit sports organizations, finances of nonprofit sports clubs, and sport development.

M. James, University of Wales Trinity Saint David, and Cardiff Metropolitan University, is a Lecturer in Sports Management at two universities in South Wales, and has previously worked at the University of Sheffield. His main research interests are the management of sports clubs run by volunteers and sports event volunteering. Matthew also has a professional background in sports management, having held senior management roles within the public and voluntary sectors between 1999 and 2016.

R. Llopis-Goig holds PhD in Sociology (1996) and is Associate Professor at the University of Valencia (Spain), where he teaches Sociology of Sport and Social Research Methods. He has been Visiting Scholar Research at the University of Leicester (UK) and at the European University Institute (Florence, Italy). His substantive research interests include sport participation and sport consumption.

S. Perényi (PhD) is an associate professor at the University of Physical Education, Budapest; has finished her PhD at Semmelweis University of Budapest and was a Fulbright scholar for MSc in sports management at Florida State University; has a wide range of experiences on different levels of sport ranging from governmental, non-governmental and private entities, frequently serves on LOCs of international sporting events. Her research work is connected to sports participation and policy, volunteerism and non-profit organisations in sport, and topics related to event management; is a member of the Hungarian Society for Sport Sciences, the European Association for Sociology of Sport and its MEASURE and POLIS networks, and the European Association of Sport Management.

J. Scheerder (PhD, MA, MSc) has an educational background in Social and Cultural Anthropology (MA), Sport and Movement Sciences (MSc) and Sport Sociology (PhD). He is a professor of sport sociology and sport policy in the Department of Movement Sciences (KU Leuven) where he heads the Policy in Sports & Physical Activity Research Group. He is promotor-coordinator of the Flemish Policy Research Centre on Sports and was president of the European Association for Sociology of Sport (2014–2016). His research focuses on political and sociological aspects of sport and physical activity. He is co-founder of both the European MEASURE and POLIS Research Networks that focus on sport participation and sport policy/sport politics, respectively. He is editor of Running Across Europe: The Rise and Size of One of the Largest Sport Markets and Sport Policy Systems and Sport Federations: A Cross-national Perspective (Palgrave Macmillan).

ORCID

J. Corthouts http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5198-9387

E. Thibaut http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5831-6433

C. Breuer http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6536-2246

R. Llopis-Goig http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9336-2227

J. Scheerder http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7430-0861

Notes

1 Physically as well as mentally disabled persons.

2 People that are foreigners or at least one of their parents is a foreigner or people belonging to an ethnic minority.

3 The special efforts (such as specialized material or accommodations) were specifically intended for the target group of the disabled and could not be indicated for the other target groups.

Additional information

Funding

This paper has been developed in the framework of the project ‘Social Inclusion and Volunteering in Sports Clubs in Europe’ which was supported by the Erasmus+ Sport programme of the European Union [grant number 2014-3140/004].