ABSTRACT
Rationale/purpose: To determine if the field of sport for development (SFD) presents opportunities for the employment of design thinking approaches toward enhancing organizational innovation.
Design/methodology/approach: We undertook a scoping study to determine if and how SFD research and practice aligns with five established themes of design thinking practice.
Findings: Design thinking indicators are present across the breadth of SFD research. A total of 14 SFD articles display total thematic alignment with design thinking practice, particularly in regard to five key indicators of such alignment: (a) deep user understanding, (b) diversity of perspectives, (c) testing for user feedback, (d) futuristic thinking, and (e) bias toward action.
Practical implications: Five key indicators represent logical points of entry for the employment of design thinking in SFD research and practice.
Research contribution: Design thinking has become popular in the broad field of management, but this is the first study of the concept in the sport management domain.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
ORCID
Greg Joachim http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3920-0427
Nico Schulenkorf http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7235-5340
Katie Schlenker http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9917-8973
Stephen Frawley http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7552-3856