Coaches' knowledge and knowlegde management enablers - a case study on team sports

Knowledge is building a competitive edge in today’s market, since it is almost impossible for competitors to copy. For that reason, knowledge management (KM) has increased in popularity as a managerial perspective aimed at increasing understanding of how knowledge should be managed as an organizational resource. The increased interest in knowledge as a managerial resource emerged in the interdisciplinary field that aims to combine multiple research fields. However, in recent years sports management has also recognized knowledge to be a key asset, since sports markets are evolving, and the amount of data and information is increasing rapidly. Knowledge management in the sports context is still a relatively new research topic. To date, research has focused on the technical aspects of developing suitable KM systems for the sports environment. Moreover, research has focused on the managerial perspective. This study focuses on understanding knowledge and knowledge processes from the coaches’ perspective before presenting a holistic view on KM. Furthermore, this research aims to increase understanding of how coaches construct and perceive their knowledge in order to frame what are the main enablers of KM in their player development work in team sports. For that reason, a qualitative case study was chosen as the research methodology. This study frames how coaches’ knowledge is constructed, as well as how the key enablers of sports KM can be framed. Coaches’ experiences, beliefs and attitudes are extremely valuable and important in making reactive decisions in coaching, which has an effect on knowledge creation, sharing and utilization. The study emphasizes that understanding the human and social aspects of individual knowledge perception and processes is beneficial for identifying KM enablers. To conclude, the qualitative study method gives a valuable insight on how the human factors are critical for successful KM.Tieto on noussut nykypäivän arvokkaaksi resurssiksi. Tietoa aineettomana resurssina on mahdotonta kopioida, minkä vuoksi se vahvistaa omaa asemaa suhteessa kilpailijoihin. Tiedon merkityksen kasvaessa, kiinnostus tiedolla johtamiseen on yleistynyt. Monitieteellisenä alana tiedolla johtaminen pyrkii selittämään, kuinka tietoa voidaan hyödyntää organisatorisena resurssina. Tätä kautta tiedolla johtaminen on yleistynyt myös urheilujohtamisen parissa. Kun informaation ja datan määrä on kasvanut räjähdysmäisesti, urheilujohtajat ovat tunnistaneet tarpeen tiedon määrän hallinnoimiselle. Kuitenkin tiedolla johtamisen tieteellinen tutkimus on vielä hyvin rajoittunutta. Tähän saakka tutkimus on keskittynyt tiedolla johtamisen teknisten ratkaisujen, ja informaatioteknologian kehittämiseen tai painottanut urheilujohtamisen näkökulmaa. Tämän vuoksi, tämä tutkimus pyrkii ymmärtämään kokonaisvaltaisemmin tiedolla johtamista joukkueurheilu maailmassa valmentajien työn näkökulmasta. Tässä tutkimuksessa keskitytään ymmärtämään, mitä tieto on valmentajille ja kuinka se vaikuttaa tiedolla johtamisen mahdollistajiin kyseisessä ympäristössä, joka tukee tiedolla johtamisen onnistumista. Tutkimus toteutettiin case – tutkimuksena joukkueurheilussa. Valmentajien asenteet, näkemykset, havainnointi ja kokemukset vaikuttavat heidän päätöksen tekoonsa pelaajakehitystyössä. Lisäksi heidän kokemuksensa omasta tiedostaan ja sen merkityksestä vaikuttavat heidän osallistumiseensa tiedon jakamiseen, hyödyntämiseen ja luomiseen, jotka ovat kriittisiä tiedolla johtamisen onnistumiselle. Tutkimus painottaa, että tiedolla johtaminen on vahvasti sidoksissa sosiaalisiin ja humaanisiin tekijöihin, joiden tunnistaminen ja ymmärtäminen vaatii inhimillistä tutkimusotetta. Viimeiseksi tämä tutkimus osoittaa, että laadullinen tutkimus antaa merkittävää syvempää ymmärrystä, kuinka valmentajien kokemus omasta tiedosta on yhteydessä tiedolla johtamisen mahdollistajiin

Shaping the user acceptance of wearable technology in elite team sports

The sports technology industry is expanding rapidly. The research and companies operating in the field are focusing on finding new innovative ways to measure and collect data to support athletes enhancing their performance. However, is that what the users are expecting from the new technology? Which are the factors affecting whether users are accepting of the system to use or not? To address this question, the most used theoretical model of user acceptance in the IS field, technology acceptance model (TAM), was examined in the team sports context. Even though, the theory is widely known, it has not been used in a team sports context. The case study made for an elite soccer team in Finland shows the technology acceptance model is a suitable way to present the user acceptance of team sports technology. Both major factors of the TAM, perceived usefulness and perceived ease-of-use have significant roles in the user acceptance in a sports context also. At the same time, the study highlights that the user acceptance of team sports technology is also influenced by the team’s motivations and goals. For that reason, social team level variables should be considered and added to the TAM model if it is used in a team sports context. The team’s norms, goals and motivations affect how one establishes the perceived usefulness for the system. On the other hand, these social variables also have a straight effect for the behavioral intention towards using the system. Nonetheless these theoretical contributions can also be beneficial for the business operators in the field. Team sports technology could be enhanced to better support the user’s social motives, for example by finding innovative ways in which to layout the data and by giving a better possibility for data comparison. In conclusion, the presented extension of the TAM can give a competitive edge for businesses to implement and design sports technologies that are more likely to be accepted by the end users