Understanding and mapping stakeholders of sport clubs: particularities

Abstract

PurposeProfessional basketball clubs generate value not only for shareholders, but also for other stakeholders. These organizations create a broader social value for a wide range of stakeholders, and thus, it is useful to consider these stakeholders' perceptions of social value creation. Therefore, under the generic framework of grounded theory, this paper aims to create a stakeholder map of professional basketball clubs, taking into account the common coopetition context in sporting competitions.Design/methodology/approachIn total, 49 qualitative semi-structured interviews were conducted in collaboration with the representatives of two Spanish basketball clubs to establish the particularities of the stakeholders of these organizations compared with non-sport businesses (NsP) to confirm the stakeholder map. The Bryson process was used to develop the stakeholder map.FindingsThe map shows that there are three kinds of stakeholders of professional basketball clubs compared with non-sport organizations: similar, singular and entirely different. The perception of different social value dimensions confirm the findings of the stakeholder map, emphasizing that these organizations should take into account multidimensional stakeholder-value creation (functional, social, emotional and epistemic).Originality/valueThis study provides evidence from a holistic point of view that economic performance is not a unique indicator for measuring basketball clubs as efficient organizations, proving the usefulness of the stakeholder map.