A Decade of Research in Club Management:

Abstract

Club management has traditionally been an under researched area, especially when compared with other segments of the leisure industry. Most of the research to date has been conducted in areas concerning the marketing of private clubs as well as legal and government issues which affect clubs. The purpose of this study will be to review the relevant club management literature, as it has appeared in academic journals over the last ten years, concentrating on what are collectively known as private social clubs-that is, clubs which have selection criteria for prospective members. A secondary purpose will be to identify the key issues that need to be explored in future research with a specific emphasis upon marketing in private clubs. The overriding intention of this paper is to argue that club management is deserving of a unique stature in hospitality and that to date it has not received the attention it warrants.