Title: Converting sporting capacity to entrepreneurial capacity: a process perspective

Authors: Kevin Hindle; Jonas Hammerschmidt; Céline Viala; Sascha Kraus; Paul Jones; Ferran Calabuig-Moreno

Addresses: City Office, Level 4, 343 Little Collins Street, Melbourne, VI 3000, Australia ' LUT School of Business and Management, Lappeenranta University of Technology, Lappeenranta, FI-53851, Finland ' ESCE-INSEEC U & Centre d'Economie de l'Université Paris (CEPN), Sorbonne Paris Cité University, Université Paris 13 - UFR SEG - site de Villetaneuse, France ' Durham University Business School, Durham University, Mill Hill Lane, Durham, DH1 3LB, UK ' School of Management, Swansea University, Swansea, SA1 8EN, UK ' Faculty of Physical Activity and Sport Sciences, University of Valencia, GascóOliag, 3, 46010 Valencia, Spain

Abstract: Managing a personal sporting career and conducting an entrepreneurial initiative are two vitally connected processes. Most athletes require a second career and many engage in entrepreneurship. Research on the similarities and differences of the sports career management process and entrepreneurial process - with a special emphasis on the necessary capacities - will have a ready audience among practitioners. This study begins the task of closing a surprising gap. In entrepreneurship literature, there is (1) growing research on entrepreneurial process and entrepreneurial capacity as the key driver; (2) strong work in generic, descriptive and explanatory modelling of process as a whole and capacity as a sub-process; and (3) the presence of a generic model of entrepreneurial process based on what distinguishes entrepreneurial capacity from other human capacities. In sports management literature, these research strands are virtually absent. The study indicates how the deficiency might be remedied.

Keywords: entrepreneurship; entrepreneurial; sport; athlete; career; management; transition; process; capacity; human; professional.

DOI: 10.1504/EJIM.2021.113246

European Journal of International Management, 2021 Vol.15 No.2/3, pp.197 - 213

Received: 04 Aug 2019
Accepted: 27 Oct 2019
Published online: 25 Feb 2021 *

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