23rd EASM Conference

SPORT MANAGEMENT IN THE DIGITAL AGE

9-12 September 2015 | Aviva Stadium, Dublin

Hello!

We’ve just had a wonderful site visit with the EASM Board and they were truly impressed with the conference venues, accommodation and the catering here in sunny Dublin. Check out the EASM Board’s Twitter feed for some photos from their tour.

Please visit the EASM website for the list of topics and workshops, and follow this link to submit your abstract.

Finally, don’t forget that Registration is NOW OPEN for early birds, and you can follow the 2015 Conference on Twitter as well!

Dr Tara Magdalinski
Conference Chair, EASM 2015

LEAD, DON’T FOLLOW!
Make your experiences count during 6th EASM Summer School 2015 at the University of Bayreuth, Germany!

The EASM Summer School is a great opportunity for bachelor and master students to enrich their sport management degree by gaining extracurricular credits (6 ECTS are calculated for the Summer School). Participants have the chance to build up their own international network of contacts within the sport business and to make new friends from all over Europe and the World. By now, we will welcome close to 50 students from 8 countries in Europe, Africa, and America. As we are still receiving enquiries for registration, the registration deadline will be extended until 15th April 2015. There are only a few places left and the deadline is approaching quickly!

WHO? Bachelor or Master students; Sport managers interested in contemporary sport marketing topics

WHAT? International Sport Marketing; Gain new knowledge, insights, and expertise!

WHY? Advance your career in Sport business, join an international network of professionals, and create friendships that last forever!

HOW? Learn by interaction, discuss in a multicultural environment, and receive transferable ECTS!

WHEN? 22nd – 26th May 2015!

WHERE? Campus / Sport Institute of the University of Bayreuth, Germany!

The European Sport Management Quarterly is ranked as a 3* journal in the revised (UK) Association of Business School Journals. 

This Guide is based upon peer review, editorial and expert judgments following the evaluation of many hundreds of publications, and is informed by statistical information relating to citation.

Click here to register and view the guide: http://www.bizschooljournals.com/

Important: The Deadline for Proposals has been postponed to December 12, 2014

Reminder:

Call for Sub-theme Workshops, 23nd EASM Conference, Dublin 2015

EASM invites, on a regular basis, sport management scholars to organise workshops on various sub-themes of sport management at the 23nd EASM Conference, that is to be held in Dublin, Ireland, 2015 (http://easm2015.com). The conference theme in 2015 will be “Sport Management in the Digital Age”. In that respect, EASM encourages particularly, but not solely, workshops proposals that connect to that theme.

The Workshops aim to encourage a profound discussion and close cooperation between participants on a particular subtheme (i.e. a specific focus within a more general topic). If successful, workshops can channel their work into special issues in ESMQ or other journals or edited books. Members interested in organising a workshop should submit the following information by email to both the Chair of the Scientific Committee (bo.carlsson@mah.se ) and the Vice-chair Veerle De Bosscher (vdebossc@vub.ac.be ) quoting Workshop Proposal in the subject line:

1. The sub-theme and title of the Workshop.
2. A short description of the proposed Workshop (maximum 500 words), to include four key words that capture its essence. Remember that the title and description should be used to arouse interest in the workshop when announced in the Call for Abstracts. Please refer to the history of the Workshop if it has already been staged in previous EASM conferences
3. The argument and expected demand for papers to the Workshop
4. The expected format of the Workshop (such as small symposium, panels, presentation of small or full papers, numbers of papers expected etc.)
5. The names, institutions, email addresses, phone numbers and research fields of all the conveners (should be minimum 2 – maximum 4 conveners, representing more than one country)
6. The name of the lead convener. This person will be responsible for the review and final acceptance of the papers in the Workshop, the coordination of conveners, and for communication with the scientific committee of the Conference as well as with colleagues at EASM involved in organizing the Conference
7. A short description of the lead convener’s previous experiences of organizing conference Workshops or other relevant information on the lead convener’s organization capabilities
8. A brief biography of each convener, and in the case of scientific workshops the convener’s most relevant international publications should be cited.

The deadline for submission of a Workshop proposal is December 12, 2014.

The workshops can have different forms within the limits of the conference program and depending on the ideas of the conveners which are responsible for putting together the workshop program, but as a general rule the Conveners’ guidelines found below should be adhered to.

Guidelines for EASM Sub-theme Workshop conveners

1. Before applying to set up a workshop, conveners should take care that the sub-theme will capture abstracts of a subset of broader topics rather than inviting abstracts that will more naturally fall within a broader topical session (such as sport policy, sport marketing, sport leadership, sport governance etc.)
2. To keep focus on the suggested sub-theme conveners are advised to plan for a rather small number of presentations and sessions. Unless the demand is very high the format should not extend 2-3 sessions or 6-10 papers/presentations.
3. The conveners should prepare an introduction to the workshop, stating the current state of research in the field and the ambitions of the workshop.
4. At the end the conveners should spend time to rounding up the workshop, summarizing its contribution to the field and if possible, initiate publishing the best papers
5. The conveners should prepare a brief written report of the contribution of the workshop to be published on the EASM website
6. The conveners are encouraged to keep a contact list of the delegates attending their workshop

Call for Papers, Joint Special Issue of ESMQ 2017, Vol. 17 (1)

Topics: Corruption in sport & Sport management issues in an era of austerity

Corruption in sport

Guest Editors Associate Professor Lisa. A. Kihl, University of Minnesota, Dr. Terry Engelberg, Griffith University, Professor James Skinner, Loughborough University, and Professor Stephen Moston, University of Canberra

Sport corruption is a worldwide threat to the integrity of sport, creating significant challenges for sport management scholars and practitioners. The sport industry has experienced multiple forms of corruption (e.g., fraud, bribery) that has ranged in extent (e.g., individual to systematic), occurred in varying contexts (sports, governance, online betting), and resulted in a multitude of consequences (financial costs, diminished reputations). The complexity and multidimensional nature of corruption has been discussed in various literature. Whilst this body of work has provided a sound starting point in the scholarly understanding, corruption in the sport industry has been largely underexplored. The global sport industry provides a rich context to substantially contribute to the scholarly discussion about corruption in terms of its conceptualization, causes, consequences, and reform.
The aim of this special issue is to build on the existing corruption research and increase our understanding of the complexity and multidimensional nature of corruption within the context of sport. We invite contributors to examine empirically and theoretically the nature, causes, consequences, and reform efforts of sport corruption in different contexts.

Possible topics include (but are not limited to):

• – Conceptions and typologies of sport corruption
• – Emerging trends in sport corruption and its implications for the business of sport (e.g., gambling led corruption, money laundering, national and international crime syndicates, national and international governance and regulation)
• – Measuring sport corruption and approaches to conducting research across the sport industry
• – Causes of sport corruption from individual/group, organization/industry/national, and across the system level of analyses
• – Consequences of sport corruption from micro to macro perspectives, drawing from different theoretical perspectives
• – Evaluation of the effectiveness of sport corruption reform strategies
• – Problems associated with current approaches to sport corruption prevention/reform

Please contact Dr. Lisa. A. Kihl via email if you have any questions: kihl@umn.edu

Sport management issues in an era of austerity

Guest Editors Dr. Daniel Parnell, Leeds Beckett University, Professor Karl Spracklen, Leeds Beckett University, and Dr. Peter Millward, Liverpool John Moores University.

The austerity measures ushered across Europe and Worldwide are not just worthless news headlines, meaningless figures on balance sheets, pointless social media notifications, or cuts to abstract places that exist ‘somewhere’. Rather cuts on public spending imposed by such measures have unintended consequences on real people and places.  The long-term interaction between sport and politics is well documented. An example of this is the United Kingdom (UK).

An example of this is the United Kingdom (UK): The UK was governed for 13 years by the Labour Party. ‘New’ Labour, champions of the ‘third way’, ‘governance’ and ‘partnership’, who invested heavily in public services and reforms. By 2010, the British and global economy was in disarray, arising from a financial crisis that first emerged in 2008. Since May 2010, the UK has had a Conservative–Liberal Democrat coalition government, which has made significant attempts to tackle the economic downturn. Ultimately, via the Comprehensive Spending Review 2010, an outlined £81 billion worth of cuts across government departments by 2014/15 was delivered. Interestingly, a quarter of this was targeted at the welfare budget (which has been expanded further). Ultimately, an era has come to an end where sport has been supported and applauded, partly because of the financial crisis and partly because of a change in ideology.  The consequences of this include wide-scale closure of leisure services, the transferal of physical resources to private or voluntary sectors, reorganization and reduction of local authority sport development units.

The purpose of this short UK example and insight is to pick out some of the pertinent (but not exhaustive) issues to the special issue: Sport management issues in an era of austerity. The aim of the special issue is to explore the consequence of these types of changes for sport, in doing so, we hope to (a) highlight the current state-of-play within sport development across European and International contexts, (b) to highlight some of theoretical, practical and policy implications related to sport management and (c) highlight future considerations for policy makers, applied researchers and practitioners.

Possible topics include (but are not limited to):

• – Changes in responsibility shifting from local authority to private enterprise,
• – Staffing changes towards the use of volunteers,
• – The role and servicing needs of volunteers and coaching staff,
• – Reduced funding for elite sport and impacts on sport policy,
• – National Governing Body strategies to deal with funding reductions,
• – Reduced funding for grassroots sport and its impact on lifelong participation,
• – The current state of school sport,
• – The emergence of social enterprise.

Please contact Dr. Dan Parnell via email if you have any questions: d.parnell@leedsbeckett.ac.uk

Journal and Submission Guidelines

European Sport Management Quarterly (ESMQ) is the official Thomson Reuters listed journal of the European Association for Sport Management. It has an international reputation for publishing high quality articles that contribute to our understanding of sport management and organizations at all levels. The journal is committed to publishing research that advances theory and its application to all aspects of sport management, including the management and governance of sport bodies in the public, voluntary and commercial sectors. ESMQ welcomes original investigations that contribute new knowledge to the field of sport management through theoretical development and empirical application. In addition to high quality theoretical and empirical papers that are relevant to the European context, the journal will publish contributions in which critical insight for sport management practice is developed from different cultural and global perspectives.

Abstracts should be structured in the following way including these headings:

1. Research question: Mention the main point of research and what your research tries to contribute. The research question should fill a research gap.

2. Research methods: Give some sentences on the methods used, the sample size and region your sample stems from.

3. Results and Findings: Mention the main findings, results, models you contribute to the literature and practice.

4. Implications: What your research contributes to the practice and/or theory.

*Each manuscript should have 5 key words.

Manuscripts must conform to ESMQ guidelines: http://www.tandfonline.com/action/authorSubmission?journalCode=resm20&page=instructions

Articles must be submitted in English and follow the guidelines of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (6th edition). The abstract should not exceed 150 words and the paper should not exceed either 8.000 words or 30 pages in length (including references).

Special Issue Timelines

• – Invitation to participate in the Special Issue Workshop—@ the23rd EASM 2015 Conference (Dublin, IE, 9-12 September 2015), Submission deadline: 10^th April 2015.
• – Full paper submissions for workshop, Submission deadline: 1^st September 2015.
• – Full papers distributed to workshop participants prior, Date: 3^rd September 2015

• – November 30th 2015 – the strict deadline for submissions of manuscripts to the ESMQ ScholarOne Manuscripts site: http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/resm.
• – February 2017 – publication of special issue as European Sport Management Quarterly (17,1)

Below you will find the abstract of the keynote which Trevor Slack, Professor Emeritus at the University of Alberta has presented at EASM 2014.

Trevor Slack is a professor emeritus in the Department of Physical Education and Sport Studies at the University of Alberta, Canada. He held a position as a Canada Research Chair. He also taught organizational theory to MBA students in the University of Alberta’s business school. Trevor has previously held positions at De Montfort University in Bedford England where he was head of the school of Sport, Physical Education and Recreation. He also held a position as a Visiting Fellow in the Center for Corporate Strategy and Change, a research unit in the University of Warwick Business School.

Dr. Slack has published in all of the major sport management journals, he has also published nine books and he is currently working on an introductory text to sport management with his friend, Professor Bill Gerrard. Dr. Slack has published several book chapters, articles in refereed journals, been a consultant for Provincial and National sport organizations, published several book reviews and he has also received over $1,000,000 for his work on sport organizations. He has also published in such journals as Organization Studies, Journal of Management Studies, Canadian Journal of Administrative Sciences, Human Relations, Journal of Applied Behavioural Science, European Journal of Marketing and The Academy of Management Journal. He has spoken in China, Australia, South Africa, Lithuania, throughout Western and Eastern Europe, and throughout North America (usually as a keynote).

He has received awards for his work on sport organizations from the North American Society of Sport Management, European Association of Sport Management, The Canadian Administrative Sciences Association and the Academy of Management.

The PDF version of his keynote presentation is available here.

The social and commercial impact of sport, the role of sport management

In this paper I argue that those interested in the management of sport should discuss their research with leaders in management and sport management. They should also talk to practitioners to see what problems they are confronting.

Using the work of Gerrard (2004) and Andrews (2004) I suggest that the commercialisation of sport has been heavily influenced by media companies. I identify four social issues that have not been dealt with in the sport management literature or have just started to be addressed. These are: sport and environmental issues; the offshore production of sport equipment; the social responsibility of sport organisations; and the lack of research on the club and recreational leagues, which are the backbone of the sport delivery system.

I indicate that I am willing to work with people on any of these topics or any other sport management related topics. I do have several caveats with any help I give. I suggest that if you get sick like me it helps to have a supportive family. I conclude by saying that the management of sport has great potential but researchers must refer to other work that is related to the topic they are investigating.

Sport management is essentially a knowledge-driven business, which relies heavily on the ability of managers to effectively acquire and interpret information, and to create and manage new knowledge. Despite the fundamental importance of knowledge to management, the academic sport management community has failed to systematically address how sport managers deal with creativity, innovations, information and knowledge management. Most work in this area has been very sporadic (i.e. not the result of a coherent programme of research) and approached knowledge creation and management from a variety of perspectives including: sociology (e.g. knowledge as power), policy (e.g. evidence-based policy making), business (e.g. using knowledge for competitive advantage) and philosophy (e.g. ontology of knowledge).

In the context of the present special issue knowledge is interpreted both as a means (i.e. routine-procedural knowledge that is concrete and manual) and as a goal (i.e. declarative-generative knowledge that is abstract and intellectual). It is generally believed that the apex of generative-declarative knowledge is creative knowledge in the sense of knowledge creation (Kaufman and Runco, 2009). However, knowledge is not an enduring object with constant properties, but rather something that is constantly recreated in a particular context. Therefore, it has to do with understanding – ‘to understand is to create’ (Piaget, 1976). The main generative mechanism for new knowledge creation in sport management comes from the exercise of judgement – the ability of researchers and managers to draw new distinctions concerning an issue at hand within the context of a dialogical relationship with particular group, community or society (Tsoukas, 2009).

Aims of Special Issue

The main goal of this special issue is to expand our understanding of the role of creativity, innovation, information and knowledge management in a variety of sport management contexts, such as sport governance, sport participation, sport events, information technology management and the learning capacity of sports organizations. This will be achieved by bringing together a collection of original, theoretically and empirically informed knowledge perspectives from various sport organisations and fields of operations. The special issue will also seek to examine critical ontological questions concerning how does the possibility emerge for the academic community to take an interest in specific sport management matters? How do research objects enter and exit the sport management gaze? Which topics and issues have emerged as result of the research activities of sport management scholars? Which sport management phenomena have themselves changed over the course of being studied?

The special issue will also serve as a useful teaching aid and reference source.

Examples of themes/sub-themes and potential authors:

The special issue will encourage submissions related to the processes of managing creativity, innovation, information and knowledge in a variety of contexts. Indicative topics include, but are not limited to:

1. How do managers and staff in sport and event organizations create, use and transfer knowledge?

2. Use and misuse of technology (social media, Internet) for information distribution and  knowledge creation;

3. Managing information and knowledge systems in sport;

4. Theoretical perspectives in knowledge creation and management taking into account the specificity of the sports management field;

5. Research approaches and techniques in information and knowledge management;

6. Evidence-based policy: the role of knowledge and its management;

7. Epistemic communities in sport management;

8. Teaching innovation and knowledge management in sport;

9. The role of organisational structure and culture of sport governing bodies in the creation of knowledge;

10. The role of knowledge management consultants in sport and event business.

How to Submit

Submission of manuscripts is open to everyone interested in the topic. Papers should be submitted in electronic format through Manuscript Central; indicating you want the manuscript to be considered for Special Issue 16.1 [manuscripts in review process].

Guest Editors

Vassil Girginov, Brunel University vassil.girginov@brunel.ac.uk
Annick Willem, Ghent University annick.willem@ugent.be
Kristine Toohey, Griffith University k.toohey@griffith.edu.au