Sport Club Initiatives for Women's Participation: The Role of Board Composition and Organizational Capacity
(2023) North American Society for Sport Management Conference — Location: Montreal (31.May.2023)
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- Abstract
- Women remain underrepresented in sport (Burton, 2015). To address this pressing issue, grassroots sport clubs are implementing initiatives to increase women’s participation (Hanlon et al., 2019). However, most of these diversity initiatives are often accidental rather than strategically implemented (Spaaji et al., 2018). Because of their position as the primary gateway for women into organized sport, sport clubs have a critical role to play in increasing women's participation. Therefore, there is a need to explore the factors influencing the implementation of women's participation initiatives by sport clubs to gain more knowledge of how to increase opportunities for women in sport. Among these factors, the board composition is expected to have a major influence. Research showed that having a certain proportion of women on the board positively affects organizational problems (Wicker et al., 2020) and women’s participation (Gaston et al., 2020). However, the influence of board composition on the implementation of women's participation initiatives remains unclear. While it is likely that the inclusion of women on the board should influence directors’ perception of the importance of women's participation, which may ultimately lead to the implementation of initiatives, there is still no evidence of such relationships. Moreover, while organizational capacity is an important factor in the implementation of diversity initiatives (Spaaji et al., 2018), little is known about how the capacity dimensions affect the influence of board composition on the implementation of women’s participation initiatives. Yet, gaining more knowledge about the role of organizational capacity in implementing such initiatives to identify critical dimensions through which sport clubs should build their capacity (Hanlon et al., 2019). This study examines the influence of the composition of sport clubs’ boards on implementing women’s participation initiatives through the mediating effect of the board’s perception of the importance of women’s participation and the moderating effect of organizational capacity. This research addresses two research questions: “How does the composition of sport clubs’ boards influence the implementation of initiatives to increase women’s participation through the board’s perception of the importance of women’s participation?” “How do the different organizational capacity dimensions moderate this influential relationship?” An online survey was sent to representatives of all Walloon (Belgium) sport clubs (i.e., around 7000 sport clubs). The questionnaire includes questions about organizational characteristics, women's participation initiatives, and the gender composition of sport clubs. Based on Hanlon et al. (2019), the survey also contains questions related to the board’s perception of the importance of women’s participation. Finally, the scale of Doherty and Cuskelly (2020) measures the sport clubs’ organizational capacity. Data will be analyzed using SPSS macro PROCESS. Three mediation/moderation models explaining the implementation of women’s participation (as board members, coaches, and athletes) initiatives will be constructed. Findings are not yet available, but they will be available for presentation at NASSM Conference 2023. This research will contribute to our understanding of the role of board composition and organizational capacity in implementing women’s participation initiatives at the grassroots level. Other theoretical contributions, practical implications, and future directions will be discussed during the presentation.
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Citations
Lefebvre, A., & Zeimers, G. (2023). Sport Club Initiatives for Women’s Participation: The Role of Board Composition and Organizational Capacity. North American Society for Sport Management Conference, Montreal.