Get ready to innovate! Staff’s disposition to implement service innovation in non-profit sport organisations

ABSTRACT

While sport entrepreneurs are known for being risk-takers and for being proactive when implementing new ideas, little is known about individuals’ attitudes within non-profit sport organisations (NPSO). The present study draws on policy implementation and innovation theories to address this gap by investigating staff attitudes towards newness and its impact on innovativeness and change. An online survey was administered to representatives of regional sport federations in Belgium (n = 101; 70% response rate) in order to measure their attitude towards newness, the number of service innovation successfully implemented and the levels of innovativeness and organisational change perceived. On average, sport federation staffs show a positive attitude towards newness, which supports the implementation of service innovation. The number of service innovations and perceptions of innovativeness both have significant indirect effects on organisational change as perceived by individuals within sport federations. Managerial and policy implications are provided with regard to the need to develop positive attitude towards newness within NPSOs in order to foster innovation.

KEYWORDS:

• Service innovation
• policy implementation
• non-profit sport organisations
• change
• innovativeness

Acknowledgement

The author would like to thank Jos Feys, Jeroen Scheerder, Steven Vos and Thierry Zintz for their valuable assistance in collecting the data and Leigh Robinson for her assistance in writing this article.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Mathieu Winand

Dr Mathieu Winand is Lecturer in Sport Management in the Faculty of Health Sciences and Sport at the University of Stirling (Scotland, UK). He is also Associate Researcher at the Belgian Olympic Chair, Université catholique de Louvain (Belgium) where he obtained his doctoral degree. Mathieu’s research interests are in the area of sport governance, performance management and innovation in sport and physical activity. His research has been published in international peer-reviewed journals such as Innovation: Management, Policy and Practice; Sport, Business and Management: An International Journal; European Sport Management Quarterly; Managing Sport & Leisure; International Journal of Sport Management and Marketing; Non Profit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly. Mathieu is Deputy Editor of Sport, Business and Management: An International Journal and Chair of the Strategic Interest Group on ‘Managing Sport’ at European Academy of Management (EURAM).

Christos Anagnostopoulos

Dr Christos Anagnostopoulos is Associate Professor in Sport Management at Molde University College (Norway) and at University Central Lancashire (Cyprus). He is an Early Researcher Award holder of the European Association for Sport Management and the Head of Sports Unit at the Athens Institute for Education and Research. His research lies in examining organisational processes and concepts that facilitate (or otherwise) value creation through the lenses of (corporate) social responsibility. He does so by drawing on the context of sport organisations, and particularly the charitable foundations that serve as the primary CSR delivery mechanisms. Christos serves at the Editorial Board of the European Sport Management Quarterly; the Sport, Business and Management: An International Journal; and the Journal of Global Sport Management.