According to the resource dependence theory, organisations draw upon interorganisational relationships to address the need for additional resources. The purpose of this study was to analyse whether sport clubs with serious resource problems regarding members, human resources (volunteers and coaches), infrastructure resources (sport facilities), or financial resources would be more likely to have a relationship with another non-profit sport club, a school, or a commercial sport provider. As previous research on interorganisational relationships has been mainly based on qualitative approaches, this study used quantitative data from sport club surveys in two Western European countries, Germany and Belgium (Flanders). The results of the correlation analyses showed that sport clubs in both countries experiencing serious problems regarding the availability of sport facilities were significantly more likely to have relationships with a school or a commercial sport provider. The study provided quantitative evidence that serious resource problems are correlated with interorganisational relationships.
LINK
Aspects of involvement in sports and active leisure in an organized context have been extensively investigated, but none of these studies provides a comprehensive picture of the membership involvement of members in voluntary clubs (MI). Our research aims to obtain an overview of existing knowledge on MI by conducting a systematic review study of academic articles. The results show that, over the years, insights into MI have increased, inducing a well-elaborated concept. MI appears to be shaped by three main dimensions (i.e., participation, personal relevance, social world), four groups of predictors (i.e., personal characteristics, psychological, organizational, and social aspects) and three levels of outcomes, for individuals (i.e. health, skills, diversion, social connectedness), organizations (i.e., support and loyalty) and society (i.e., healthy life style, social capital, learning communities). Moreover, we show a circular effect of the outcome-aspects that also predict MI. Based on these results, we develop a framework of membership involvement, propose future research directions, and discuss scientific and practical implications.
LINK
Aim of this study is to gain more insights into conditions and approaches used by sport club consultants, affecting the vitalization process of voluntary sport clubs. This study is part of a larger research the competencies, approaches and interventions which sport club consultants need to provide support on vitalization processes in voluntary sport clubs.
