Examining social media adoption and change to the stakeholder communication paradigm in not-for-profit sport organizations

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine social media adoption within not-for-profit sport organizations to illuminate the impetus for change, the type of change undertaken, and change resistance. Using a contextualist approach depicting the external and internal forces as well as the change process, semi-structured interviews were conducted with ten Canadian national sport organizations (NSO) representing varying degrees of social media presence. The findings suggest that, although social media is espoused as a radical, transformational vehicle, NSOs have only made incremental adjustments to their stakeholder communication and have situated social media within their extant organizational condition due to capacity constraints and resistance from staff and reticent stakeholders. Adopting social media in light of limited organizational capacity thus diminishes the utility of the communications tool. Theoretical and practical implications include how to improve social media-related capacity and the importance of continuing the social media and sport domain’s organizational theory agenda.

Brand governance practices in Canadian national sport organizations: an exploratory study

“…Social media can serve as a vehicle to achieve strategic brand objectives (Sanderson & Yandle, 2015), if social media is well developed and properly managed (Naraine & Parent, 2017a, 2017b. This relationship between brand governance, stakeholders and social media has yet to be explored amongst NSOs.…”

“…While NSOs have experience in virtualizing themselves and developing relationships in an online space (see Girginov et al, 2009), the ferocity with which social media has pervaded the sport industry has simultaneously been a challenge and opportunity for NSOs. Notably, a slate of inquiry by Naraine and Parent (2016a, 2016b, 2017a, 2017b sought to understand NSOs and social media more intimately. One study in particular revealed these sport organizations embraced social media to demonstrate relevancy, keep stakeholders updated, and connect to new groups (Naraine & Parent, 2017a).…”

“…Notably, a slate of inquiry by Naraine and Parent (2016a, 2016b, 2017a, 2017b sought to understand NSOs and social media more intimately. One study in particular revealed these sport organizations embraced social media to demonstrate relevancy, keep stakeholders updated, and connect to new groups (Naraine & Parent, 2017a). However, NSOs have been known to simply communicate results and scores (Naraine & Parent, 2016a) and have been unable to amplify their brand messaging (Naraine & Parent, 2016b), suggesting a lack of strategic planning and foresight (Naraine & Parent, 2017b).…”

“…The reality remains one in which NSOs are limited in their human and financial capacity, and also face resistance to change (Naraine & Parent, 2017b). As such, social media has been adopted by NSOs, but only insofar as to exhibit relevance and currency to their stakeholders (Naraine & Parent, 2017a). In this respect, social media is valued for its operational marketing capacity (Sanderson & Yandle, 2015).…”

Digitalization in organized sport – usage of digital instruments in voluntary sports clubs depending on club's goals and organizational capacity

“…Empirical findings on the issues of digitalization in VSCs or sport federations often relate to the use of communication tools (Bingley and Burges, 2012). Results suggest that the benefits of communication tools are reduced by limited organizational capacities, employees' resistance (Naraine and Parent, 2017) and decision makers' lack of familiarity (Denison and Johanson, 2007). To provide a guide for evaluating mobile technology applications by VSCs, four mobile utility factors (ubiquity, convenience, interactivity and personalization) and three innovation adoption determinants (cost, skill requirements and compatibility) are proposed (Sellitto et al , 2016).…”