Sport is a suitable context for the promotion of several health-related behaviours apart from exercise. Nevertheless, the present sport structure excludes most young people and is positively linked with sport violence. A less demanding sport context should be provided for the majority of young people, particularly for females. Sport programmes designed to promote health behaviours should be encouraged. More concentrated actions to combat sport violence are required.

PurposeThe aim of the present study is to examine the impact of human resource (HR) practices (human resource empowerment, organizational culture and transformational leadership) on innovation activities as well as the effect of innovation activities on perceived financial performance within sport services firms.Design/methodology/approachThe proposed relationships were examined using empirical data from 172 managers of Greek sport services firms. Seemingly unrelated regression (SUR) analysis was used to investigate the role of human resource management (HRM) practices on innovation activities and whether innovation activities affected the perceived financial performance.FindingsThe results of the study indicated that HRM practices, such as human resource empowerment, organizational culture and transformational leadership, significantly impact innovation activities and subsequently innovation activities have a significant and positive effect on perceived financial performance as measured by satisfaction levels in relation to specific key performance indicators (KPIs) such as profit, ROI, sales volume and market share.Practical implicationsThis study presents useful theoretical and managerial implications that can be used by sport service firms to assess the effects of HRM practices on innovation activities and perceived financial performance.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the literature on several merits. Firstly, the authors jointly estimate the impact of HRM practices on innovation and its concurrent effect on perceived financial performance, which is not methodologically considered before. Secondly, the authors incorporate a more thorough measure of perceived financial performance including four dimensions of performance, and finally the authors analyze a larger sample of sport services firms relative to previous studies, leading into more concrete conclusion on the research hypotheses.

This study examined the extent to which empowerment is applied to Greek professional football clubs, and the relationship between empowerment and organizational performance. Empowerment, on the one hand, has been described as a means to enable employees to make decisions and accomplish their work in meaningful ways, and on the other hand, as a personal phenomenon where individuals take responsibility for their own actions. For analytical purposes the participatory football clubs were divided into two groups based on their budget: (a) wealthy football clubs, and (b) less wealthy football clubs. The results of the study indicated that empowerment is being used similarly in wealthy football clubs as well as in less wealthy football clubs. The basic difference between them was in the managerial styles they used. In particular, in less wealthy football clubs there was a strong and positive relationship between average of revenues in five years and two key factors of empowerment such as: the "management information /communication system skills" and the "total of all managerial functions". Limitations of the present study and suggestions for further research are presented.

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