Evaluating the Implementation of a Professional Sport Team’s Corporate Community Involvement Initiative

Abstract

As corporate community initiatives (CCI) in sport are becoming an important dimension of corporate social responsibility, a key issue is evaluating the quality of the processes by which they are delivered and how they are managed. The purpose of this study was to explore the implementation process of a professional sport team's CCI using program evaluation theory (Chen, 2005). Interviews were conducted with 42 key stakeholders (team executives, partnership implementers, participants, parents, coaches) from one Major League Baseball team's CCI to understand critical processes involved in CCI implementation and execution. The findings showed concerns in the quality of program implementation with the: 1) the partnership agreement, 2) the ecological context, 3) protocol and implementation, and 4) target population. We propose an iterative model of program evaluation for use in the sport context. We conclude the paper with recommendations for further research in this area and implications for practitioners.

Applying a Communicating Vessels Framework to CSR Value Co-creation: Empirical Evidence From Professional Team Sport Organizations

“…The practical evolution of CSR as a value-based approach in sport has been accompanied by empirical insights on its determinants, pressures, and motives (e.g., Babiak & Wolfe, 2009;Babiak & Trendafilova, 2011;Hamil & Morrow, 2011), and the extent to which PTSOs can obtain any value through their foundations' practices (Extejt, 2004;Inoue, Kent, & Lee, 2011;Kihl, Babiak, & Tainsky, 2014). However, still missing from the sport management and marketing literature is an integrative framework -one that would be akin to a more current paradigmatic SDL -for CSR value co-creation.…”

Understanding Football as a Vehicle for Enhancing Social Inclusion: Using an Intervention Mapping Framework

“…Where appropriate the research team offered guidance and support to ensure a consistent approach to data collection. Ongoing communication between the research team and BACT (both senior management and leads for evaluation) and research team was maintained through a range of techniques (informal and formal meetings, telephone calls and emails), aligned with the development of effective partnerships (Kihl, Babiak, & Tainsky, 2014). In the future, the research team would provide analysis and reports on the data collected to support BACT stakeholder dissemination.…”

The Current State of Corporate Social Responsibility Behavior in National Collegiate Athletic Association Division-I Athletic Departments

“…Community service is one of the most frequently researched areas in sport and CSR (Kihl, Babiak, & Tainsky, 2014;Misener & Mason, 2009). A majority of the research has centered on creating a method and delivering life skills to the student athletes through student services departments within the college athletic departments.…”

“…The active participation in community service projects allows the local community stakeholders to acknowledgethe outreach efforts of the athletic department (Kihl et al, 2014). The primary participants in community service for the athletic department are student-athletes, as it provides them with added benefits in the classroom.…”