The relationship between inter-organisational citizenship behaviour and innovation within sport clusters - a cross-cultural approach

International audienceThe focus of this research is on the relationship between inter-organisational citizenship behaviour (ICB) and innovation within sport clusters. ICB is defined as discretionary and voluntary behaviour of organisations within a cluster that is not formally rewarded but promotes the functioning of the cluster. The innovation of sport through sport equipment, hence product innovation, is subject of this research. Sport clusters are geographic concentrations of interconnected organisations that have an interest in a particular sport as buyer or seller of related services or products. Four clusters are analysed contrasting two different locations, France and Australasia, and two sports of different maturity and level of organisation, sailing and surfing. This research considers the relevance of culture in sport management research by taking a comparative approach across two different cultures. In the first stage qualitative data is collected to map out clusters and their inter-organisational relationships. In the second step multivariate analysis is applied to investigate how much ICB (independent variable) influences product innovation (dependent variable) in those relationships. This research aims at improving the innovativeness of sport clusters and its organisations. Overall, the results are expected to create a better understanding of clusters, their organisations, relationships, and interactions. The objective is to disclose benefits of clusters as industrial structure with regards to innovation. The authors' intention is furthermore to interpret the results in a wider context, such as other sports or consumer goods markets with similar characteristics, and countries and locations with similar conditions

A Scientometric Portrait of Daniel Funk: Publication Productivity, Collaboration Patterns, and Citation Analysis

Scientometrics summarise and analyse the work of eminent researchers. In this paper, we analyse and to some extent celebrate, the infuence of Dan Funk on sport marketing and sport consumer behaviour scholarship. We summarise 1) the scientific indicators of his contribution; 2) research themes; 3) co-authorship patterns (i.e. key collaborators, country, university affiliation, author group size) 4) journals that have published his research; 5) his ideational influencers and influencees. This scientometric profile depicts a 20-year publishing career, the pursuit of complementary research themes, a large number of co-authors and a relatively small number of high-value collaborators, and a willingness to pursue opportunities at different universities (and countries), a process which inevitably expands a researcher’s network

BOUQUETS ARE AS USEFUL AS BRICKBATS: THE INFLUENCE OF INTERORGANIZATIONAL CITIZENSHIP BEHAVIORS ON THE INNOVATION PROCESS

International audienceThis study investigates how interorganizational citizenship behavior influences the innovationprocess. By investigating interorganizational networks and relationships, we offer newperspectives on how these linkages can serve as sources of innovation that lever competitiveadvantage. We identified seven dimensions of citizenship, and analyzed them with regards todifferent phases of the innovation process (i.e., idea, invention, exploitation). We integrated thenotions of cooperative and collaborative behavior as conditions for citizenship. Our qualitativeinvestigation of the sailing industry cluster in New Zealand demonstrates the utility ofcitizenship to understand, access, and use external resources to innovate. We find that twodimensions of citizenship – advancement and altruism – are most prevalent during the entireinnovation process. Citizenship tends to be embedded in collaborative linkages during the ideaand invention phase, but cooperative linkages are sufficient to develop citizenship during theinvention and exploitation phase. Further research is necessary to generalize the role ofcitizenship for the innovation process

Esports Associations and the Pursuit of Legitimacy : Evidence From Germany

The dominant position of esports game publishers is a fundamental difference between the systemic governance of esports and traditional sports. There are no such equivalent organizations in traditional sports. As for-profit corporations, the publishers develop and market the electronic games as their commercial products and thus, possess exclusive property rights. Publishers control the virtual sporting environment and the rules of the game. In conventional sports, by contrast, non-profit associations administer their sports with the core task of developing the sport by regulations, playing rules, and licensing. There are, however, esports associations which resemble traditional leagues and national governing bodies. Given this, we explore how esports associations pursue legitimacy. This study is empirically motivated by the recent emergence of two esports associations in the insightful case of Germany and examines the pursuit of legitimacy by the World Esports Association (WESA) and the eSport-Bund Deutschland e.V. (ESBD). The study is based on a content analysis of 55 documents and nine interviews with relevant stakeholders. The findings show that the esports associations rely on conformance and manipulation strategies by transferring existing structures from traditional sports to esports. The most effective practices are lobbying for social and public acceptance of esports and creating supportive networks for esports development. While publishers possess an undisputed and taken-for-granted legitimacy based on their product property rights, esports associations struggle for recognition and acceptance. They may still have a long way to go, given that established associations in conventional sports have a history for decades. Yet, esports associations need to accept publisher dominance. Thus, they can only claim partial legitimacy within the esports ecosystem by targeting segments of stakeholders. Management, policy and theoretical implications of this key insight are finally presented

A Scientometric Portrait of Daniel Funk: Publication Productivity, Collaboration Patterns, and Citation Analysis

Purpose: Scientometrics summarise and analyse the work of eminent researchers. In this paper, we analyse and to some extent celebrate, the influence of Dan Funk on sport marketing and sport consumer behaviour scholarship. Design/methodology/approach: We summarise 1) the scientific indicators of his contribution; 2) research themes; 3) co-authorship patterns (i.e., key collaborators, country, university affiliation, author group size) 4) journals that have published his research; 5) his ideational influencers and influencees. His articles were retrieved from the Web of Science (Core collection) and analysed using HistCite, Publish or Perish and VOSviewer software. Findings: The scientometric portrait depicts a 20-year publishing career, the pursuit of complementary research themes, a large number of co-authors and a relatively small number of high-value collaborators, and a willingness to pursue opportunities at different universities (and countries), a process which inevitably expands a researcher’s network. Originality/value: This is the first scientometric portrait of sport marketing and consumer behaviour. The emergence of highly prolific authors is a sign that the related academic fields of sport management, sport marketing and sport consumer behaviour are maturing

Esports Governance: Exploring Stakeholder Dynamics

Esports is a rapidly growing industry. However, the unidentifiable governance structure of the industry has contributed to a number of integrity-eroding activities. By exploring esports stakeholder dynamics, this paper answers the question, “Is the esports governance model sustainable?” Data were sourced from documentation, focus groups (N = 3) and semi-structured interviews (N = 6). Thematic analysis was conducted using Nvivo. The findings suggest that (1) the current esports governance framework features some attributes of the “lead organisation-governed network”, with the power residing mainly in game publishers; (2) the rising power of other stakeholders in the network seeking to address integrity issues has caused fragmentation of the esports governance framework; (3) esports governance is evolving towards a network administration organisation (NAO) model. Such evolution has a few challenges—most notably, the compliance of game publishers. Given the social impact of the integrity issues, governments should play a main role in facilitating a NAO model