Title: Research on voluntary sport organisations: established themes and emerging opportunities

Authors: Terri Byers

Addresses: Centre for the International Business of Sport (CIBS), Coventry University, William Morris Building, Coventry, CV1 5DL, UK

Abstract: The voluntary sector has been widely recognised as important to society, the economy and perhaps most importantly to individuals. Voluntary sport organisations provide ample opportunity for people to engage in volunteering and to contribute to a valuable sector of the sport management field. The purpose of this paper is to examine the variety of research which has focused on voluntary sport organisations and to identify the variety of concepts which have been the focus of much of this research. Considering this research, key themes and some thoughts on the future direction of research on voluntary sport organisations is offered. Both conceptual and methodological aspects of research are considered. The conclusions of this paper propose that research on voluntary sport organisations is a plentiful and growing field of study which now requires greater synthesis and comparative research, as well as consideration of how work in this sector may contribute to knowledge of volunteering, volunteer management and organisations more widely, in order to advance the knowledge base and to further increase the quality of research outputs.

Keywords: voluntary sport; sports organisations; themes; future direction; sport management.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSMM.2009.028803

International Journal of Sport Management and Marketing, 2009 Vol.6 No.2, pp.215 - 228

Published online: 30 Sep 2009 *

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