Professionalization and organizational problems of sports clubs: Is there a relationship?

Abstract

Sports clubs have been reporting several organizational problems in recent decades (e.g., recruitment and retention of members and volunteers). At the same time, certain sports clubs have professionalized their strategies, structures, processes, and staff. However, previous research has not analyzed whether the professionalization of sports clubs is related to their organizational problems. Therefore, this study conducts, in the first step, a cluster analysis based on three dimensions of professionalization to identify professionalization types among sports clubs. In the second step, it examines differences in organizational problems among the identified professionalization types. The main findings are that (1) sports clubs with paid staff report fewer problems with recruiting and retaining members but more problems with finances than sports clubs that rely on voluntary work, and (2) sports clubs with increased professionalization of human resources management (HRM) and strategy have fewer problems with recruiting and retaining board members and coaches than sports clubs with low professionalization of HRM and strategy. These results show that professionalized sports clubs have different, but not necessarily fewer, organizational problems.

Expectation-based types of voluntary sports clubs in regional sports federations

“…In contrast, “Competition-oriented Self-administrators” are larger clubs that act more autonomously and are less involved in the federation's development and communication. This can be explained by the fact that large VSCs are financially stronger and more professionally positioned ( 18 ). Accordingly, large VSCs tend to have sufficient resources and their own more developed administrative service structures, so they have fewer expectations of their federation.…”

“…Researchers have found that organizational characteristics and contextual conditions of VSCs can be related to organizational challenges ( 7 – 9 , 18 ). Wicker and Breuer ( 8 ) found that VSCs with a larger number of members are more likely to have problems in retaining and recruiting volunteers, and that smaller clubs are more likely to have problems in retaining and attracting athletes and members.…”

“…Similarly, there is a correlation between the employee structure of VSCs and organizational challenges. VSCs with paid employees tend to have fewer problems in attracting and retaining members than clubs with primarily volunteer staff ( 18 ).…”

“…Clubs with a clear strategic orientation show fewer organizational problems in financial terms and in recruiting and retaining volunteers ( 7 , 9 ). In addition, VSCs with a service orientation have fewer financial problems compared to VSCs with a performance orientation ( 7 ), and sports clubs with professionalized personnel management have fewer problems in attracting and retaining members and coaches ( 18 ). Accordingly, VSCs with more members, which also tend to have paid staff, more professionalized personnel management, and higher revenues through membership fees, can be expected to have fewer expectations of the federation's services in recruiting and retaining members and in retaining and promoting athletes, and vice versa.…”