Women in sport management: advancing the representation through HRM structures

Abstract

Examines the effects of organizational characteristics, philosophical support, and substantive human resource management (HRM) programs on promoting gender equality within sport management. A questionnaire was developed to collect data on philosophical support and HRM practices within sport organizations and sent to 500 collegiate and professional sport organizations in the USA; 196 respondents (39 per cent) returned their completed survey forms. Findings indicated significant confirmatory paths between experiencing a gender discrimination lawsuit and philosophical support (t = –3.14, p < 0.05), philosophical support and substantive HRM programs (t = 9.56, p < 0.05) and philosophical support and representation of female managers (t = 2.36, p < 0.05). Concludes that philosophical support of top managers leads to the development of substantive HRM programs to promote gender equality in sport management and greater female manager representation.