The assetization of baseball players: Instrumentalizing promise with signing bonuses and human capital contracts

Nappert, Pier-Luc; Plante, Maude

doi:10.1016/j.aos.2022.101402

Cited by 3 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 55 publications

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“…This paper responds to the rising scholarly interest in the valuation of sports athletes (Andon and Free, 2019; Nappert and Plante, 2022). It has analyzed the valuation discourses of an online user community on soccer players' market values, which have assumed a performative nature in media reporting, transfer negotiations, stock market communication, and academic research.…”

Section: Concluding Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Since fans exhibit an “insatiable demand for information” about their teams, soccer offers a context that is replete with notions of transparency, accountability, and control (Cooper and Johnston, 2012, p. 615). In view of the extant and increasing commercialization of the field, one key point of attention relates to the unique challenges around the valuation of professional players (Andon and Free, 2019; Nappert and Plante, 2022). Value can take many forms, and hence is mostly seen as socially constructed, that is as a quality that is assigned to a specific object, thus emphasizing a focus on the work required to construct value (Muniesa, 2011).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Valuing soccer players: on the valuation dynamics of an online user community

Detzen

Löhlein²

2023

AAAJ

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PurposeThis paper studies the interactive valuation discourses of an online user community (transfermarkt.de) that seeks to determine market values for soccer players. Despite their seemingly casual nature, these values have featured in newspapers, transfer negotiations, academic research, and capital market communication – and have thus become reified.Design/methodology/approachThe paper employs netnographic research methodology to collect and thematically analyze a wide range of user entries on the platform. These entries are studied using theoretical insights from the sociology of quantification and valuation.FindingsThe analysis reveals how values are constructed in constant interaction between value-proposing users and value-justifying “experts.” This dynamic form of relational valuation positions players relative to one another as well as to actual transactions on the transfer market. In the absence of authoritative guidelines, it is this possibility and affordance for interaction that enacts a coherent valuation regime. The paper further reveals the platform's response to a disruptive event, which risked bringing the user-expert dynamics to a halt, requiring intervention from the platform to repair its valuation frame.Originality/valueThe paper responds to increased scholarly interests in the valuation of professional athletes. It contributes to the extant literature on valuation, first, by analyzing the dynamic valuation work that feeds into the social construction of values and, second, by studying platform participation and user interaction in a socially engineered online space.

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Section: Concluding Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Valuing soccer players: on the valuation dynamics of an online user community

Detzen

Löhlein²

2023

AAAJ

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“…Only recently have researchers focused more explicitly on the connection between accounting and talent development in sports organizations. For example, Nappert and Plante (2022) examine the “assetization” of baseball players and how those individuals experience being considered “assets”. The study points to the importance of promissory mechanisms (cf.…”

Section: Background Literaturementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Gerdin, 2020; Carlsson-Wall et al ., 2016). However, while accounting researchers have acknowledged the importance of human resource management (Alvesson and Kärreman, 2004; Davila, 2005; Nappert and Plante, 2022), we still know little about talent development processes. In particular, given the theoretical discussions of talent management as a sub-field of organizational theory (e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Second, the trade of football talent has exploded in recent years into a lucrative market, with turnover of more than EUR 28.9bn in the 2018/19 season in Europe alone – a football talent industry (Deloitte, 2020). In the light of these developments, football clubs are incentivized to establish new strategies for scaling their talent development, possibly changing the ways they think about, recruit and trade players as “assets” (Nappert and Plante, 2022), especially when generating their income not only from operating activities anymore, but rather from talent trades as an increasingly viable source of revenue (McKinsey and Company, 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Scaling and controlling talent development in high-intensity organizations: the case of a Swedish football club

Carlsson‐Wall

DeMott

Ali

2023

AAAJ

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PurposeIn this paper, the authors empirically and theoretically analyze the scaling and control of talent development to highlight an important part of commercialization in football clubs, especially in the light of a growing transfer market.Design/methodology/approachConducting a single case study of a Swedish football club, the authors adapt a view of the club as a “high-intensity” organization (Alvesson and Kärreman, 2004), one that inherently relies on strong identification of employees and the fostering of talent. This view allows us to detail the importance of both socio-ideological and technocratic forms of control involved in the talent development process.FindingsThe authors show how socio-ideological and technocratic forms of control were combined to establish the football club as a “talent factory” in the league, as well as the corresponding challenges when scaling talent development activities and how these challenges were handled. In doing so, the authors contribute to the broader accounting literature on talent- and human resource management, as the authors provide an example of how football clubs may commercialize without necessarily violating their fundamental sports values.Originality/valueTalent management has mainly been studied in terms of increasing player wages and a focus on the cost of talent. As opposed to these perspectives, the authors highlight the revenue potential in developing players in the light of a growing transfer market and the relevance of talent development for the commercialization of football clubs.

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Assetization as a mode of techno-economic governance: Knowledge, education and personal data in the UN's System of National Accounts

Birch

2023

Economy and Society

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The assetization of baseball players: Instrumentalizing promise with signing bonuses and human capital contracts

Cited by 3 publications

References 55 publications

Valuing soccer players: on the valuation dynamics of an online user community

Valuing soccer players: on the valuation dynamics of an online user community

Scaling and controlling talent development in high-intensity organizations: the case of a Swedish football club

Assetization as a mode of techno-economic governance: Knowledge, education and personal data in the UN's System of National Accounts

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