Journal of Physical Education and Sport ® (JPES), Vol 20 (Supplement issue 2), Art 167 pp 1201 – 1208, 2020
online ISSN: 2247 - 806X; p-ISSN: 2247 – 8051; ISSN - L = 2247 - 8051 © JPES
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Corresponding Author: ANDRZEJ LIS, E-mail: an[email protected]k.pl
Original Article
Sport management: Thematic mapping of the research field
ANDRZEJ LIS
1
, MATEUSZ TOMANEK
2
1,2
Faculty of Economic Sciences and Management, Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń, POLAND
Published online: April 30, 2020
(Accepted for publication: April 15, 2020)
DOI:10.7752/jpes.2020.s2167
Abstract:
The aim of the study is to map the thematic landscape of the sport management research field. The research
process is focused on the following study questions: (1) what are the leading thematic areas attracting the
attention of academia? (2) what are the emerging topics in research on sport management? The method of high-
frequency keywords co-occurrence analysis was used to identify leading and emerging topics within the research
field. Bibliometric data for analysis were retrieved from the Scopus database. The VOSviewer software
supported the analysis process and visualization of its findings. The study points out the following leading
thematic areas in the research field: (1) professional sport management, (2) physical activity and health, (3)
sports staff, (4) IKM in sport management, (5) governance in sport, (6) sport education and learning, (7) humans
in sport, (8) fans in sport. Among the emerging topics of scientific inquiry, the following issues are recognized:
(1) the use of new information technologies (including social media), (2) sustainable development in sport, (3)
fan satisfaction, and (4) physical activity (including grassroots). Taking into account the increase in the number
of publications in the research field observed in the 2010s, and the lack of other studies dealing with topic
profiling, the study aimed at identifying leading and emerging topics within the sport management research field
seems to be valuable both for theory and practice of sport management. Mapping the structure of the field and
identifying thematic clusters creates added value especially from the point of view of sport management theory.
Co-occurrence analysis of high-frequency keywords unveils a variety of topics and approaches cultivated in the
field and relationships among these topics. Pointing out ‘hot’ (emerging) topics provides guidance for scholars
searching ideas for new, interesting research. From the point of view of business practice, the study develops
situational awareness of sport managers highlighting the issues they should pay special attention to and supports
them in identifying research gaps to be submitted for exploration in further studies by academia, closing the
reciprocal loop between theory and practice.
Key Words: sport management, bibliometrics, Scopus, VOSviewer.
Introduction
The emergence of sport management as a research area was triggered by the development of
professional sports, primarily in North America. One of the first journals that concerned this area is the Journal
of Sport Management, which has been publishing articles since 1987. Due to the differences in organization of
the system of games between the United States (separate academic and professional sports in a discipline) and
Europe (one sport and one competition), there are some gaps in studies in the aforementioned geographical
regions e.g. limited research on the operations of European sports clubs or rarely conducted physical education
studies in the United States. In the beginning of the 21
st
century, scholars, motivated by the demand from sports
organizations (clubs, federations, sport event organizers), intensified research focused on managing sports. The
examples include among others the studies on strengthening the commitment of volunteers [1], the experience of
sports fan [2], but also broadly understood sport-for-development [3]. In regard to research methodology, both
qualitative and quantitative research methods may be employed in sport management studies [4], but much focus
seems to have been given to qualitative research [5–8]. Recently, an eclectic approach is recommended
combining qualitative and quantitative methods [9]. Increasing interest of academia in exploring the issues of
sport management resulted in its development towards a distinctive research discipline [10,11].
The attractiveness of the research field has resulted in growing scientific output. Almost 2,000
publications dealing with the issue of sport management (i.e. including the phrase ‘sport management’ in their
titles, keywords and abstracts) are found to be indexed by the Scopus database, as of March 2020. A growing
trend has been particularly noticeable in the 2010s, when the yearly research production increased from 105
publications in 2010 up to 263 items in 2019. Nevertheless, so far, the amassing research production in the sport
management research field has not been mapped thoroughly. Therefore, taking into account the dynamics of
increase in the number of publications in the research field in the 2010s, and the lack of other studies dealing
with topic profiling, it seems reasonable to map the thematic landscape of the sport management research field,
which is the aim of this study. The research process is focused on the following study questions: (1) what are the
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leading thematic areas attracting the attention of academia? (2) what are the emerging topics in research on sport
management? In the following parts of the manuscript, firstly, research methodology is explained; secondly, the
results of thematic clustering and identification of emerging topics in the research field are presented; thirdly,
research findings are discussed.
Material & methods
Scopus was used as a source to retrieve bibliometric data for analysis. As of 29 February 2020, we
searched for the publications including the phrase ‘sport management’ in their titles, abstracts and keywords
(topic search). In total, 1,979 bibliometric records (publications) were retrieved. Scientific output in the field is
distributed over 26 subject areas, defined by Scopus. The majority of publications (1,413) is categorized under
the umbrella of the Business, Management and Accounting subject area. Other leading areas include: Decisions
Sciences (774), Social Sciences (430), Health Professions (278) and Medicine (271). Articles (1,601, i.e. 80.9%)
are the dominant type of documents. The sample is biased towards publications written in English (1,869; i.e.
94.4%). Among remaining languages, Spanish and Russian are the followers. The detailed data describing the
research sample are provided in Table 1.
Table 1. Parameters of the research sample
Category
Items (N)
Subject
area
Business, Management and Accounting (1,413); Decision Sciences (774); Social Sciences (430); Health
Professions (278); Medicine (271); Economics, Econometrics and Finance (100); Psychology (85); Computer
Science (79); Engineering (60); Arts and Humanities (26); Mathematics (25); Environmental Science (16);
Agricultural and Biological Sciences (12); Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology (11);
Multidisciplinary (9); Chemistry (6); Energy (5); Material Sciences (5); Earth and Planetary Sciences (3);
Neuroscience (3); Immunology and Microbiology (2); Nursing (2); Pharmacology, Toxicology and
Pharmaceutics (2); Physics and Astronomy (2); Chemical Engineering (1); Veterinary (1)
Document
type
Article (1,601); Review (113); Conference Paper (98); Book (67); Book Chapter (62); Editorial (15); Erratum
(6); Conference Review (4); Note (4); Short Survey (1); Undefined (8)
Language
English (1,869); Spanish (50); Russian (34); Portuguese (13); Croatian (7); French (6); German (4); Chinese
(3); Turkish (3); Persian (2); Arabic (1); Lithuanian (1); Catalan (1)
Source: Own study based on data retrieved from the Scopus (29 Feb. 2020).
The method of high-frequency keywords co-occurrence analysis, which is an example of co-word
analysis [cf. 12], was used to identify leading and emerging topics within the research field. The studies by Guo
and associates [13] and Lis [14,15] were used as benchmarks to design the study procedure and the paper
structure. The VOSviewer software [16,17] supported the analysis process and visualization of its findings. The
publications comprising the research sample provide in total 5,200 keywords. Among them, there are 3,992
expressions which occurred only once. The minimum number of high-frequency keywords to be taken for co-
occurrence analysis (89) and the relevant threshold of the minimum number of occurrences (10) were calculated
in accordance with the formula recommended by Donohue [18] as cited in Guo et al. [13]. The number of 10
occurrences is achieved by 100 keywords. Among them we excluded expressions related to research and
publishing processes (e.g. ‘article’, ‘review’, ‘research’, ‘qualitative research’, ‘scale development’, ‘human
experiment’, ‘case study’). Therefore, finally, 93 expressions were included for further analysis. The parameters
of VOSviewer used for analysis are presented in Table 2.
Table 2.VOSviewer parameters used for analysis
Item
Characteristic/ value
Type of analysis
Co-occurrence analysis
Unit of analysis
All keywords
Counting method
Full counting
Method of normalization of strength of the links between items
Association strength method
Layout
Attraction
2 (default setting)
Repulsion
0 (default setting)
Clustering
Resolution parameter (detail of clustering)
1 (default setting)
Minimum cluster size [N]
1 (default setting)
Merging small clusters
Switched on
Visualization
Scale
1.00
Weights
occurrences
Labels size
0.50
Maximum number of lines
1000
High frequency keywords used for analysis [N]
93
Minimum occurrences of a keyword used for analysis [N]
10
Source: Own study.
Results
Thematic clustering
The leading keywords within the research sample, ranked by the number of occurrences, are: ‘sport
management’ (235 occurrences), ‘sports management’ (145), ‘sport’ (126), ‘sports’ (114), ‘management’ (66),
‘human’, (52), ‘governance’ (32), ‘football’ (32), ‘physical activity’ (31), ‘marketing’ (31), ‘sport marketing’
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(31), and ‘gender’ (31). Table 3 enumerates top 20 high-frequency keywords in the sport management research
field, including their bibliometric characteristics such as the number of occurrences, the number of links, total
link strength and average publication year.
Table 3. Top 20 high-frequency keywords in the sport management research field (sorted by the number of
occurrences)
Keywords
Occurrences
Links
Total link strength
Average publication year
sport management
235
79
290
2014.38
sports management
145
57
199
2013.80
sport
126
66
253
2014.16
sports
114
52
266
2013.72
management
66
41
97
2013.83
human
52
38
188
2012.12
governance
34
19
35
2014.97
football
32
19
29
2015.28
physical activity
31
24
58
2015.55
marketing
31
24
57
2014.77
sport marketing
31
26
50
2013.48
gender
31
29
48
2013.61
social media
30
21
40
2017.47
sport policy
29
20
24
2014.90
information management
27
15
64
2014.48
corporate social responsibility
27
20
33
2013.89
physical education
25
30
80
2012.36
education
25
22
66
2014.76
satisfaction
25
23
45
2015.36
team identification
25
13
18
2015.68
Source: Own study based on data retrieved from Scopus and analyzed with the use of VOSviewer
(29 Feb. 2020).
Fig. 1. Co-occurrence network of high-frequency keywords in the sport management research field
Source: Own study based on data retrieved from Scopus and analyzed with the use of VOSviewer
http://sport.umk.pl/pliki/Fig1_1589197058.png (29 Feb. 2020).
Network visualization function of VOSviewer is employed to identify the leading thematic areas of
scientific inquiry in the sport management research field (Figure 1). The composition of the identified thematic
clusters is presented in Table 4. The clusters grouping high-frequency keywords are labelled as: (1) professional
sport management, (2) physical activity and health, (3) sports staff, (4) IKM in sport management, (5)
governance in sport, (6) sport education and learning, (7) humans in sport, (8) fans in sport. The map of co-
occurrence network visualizes the prominence of bibliometric items and relationships among them. The bigger
size of the node, the more prominent a given expression is i.e. the more occurrences it has. The closer two items
are to each other, the stronger relatedness among them is observed. The keywords of the highest number of
occurrences (25 and more) are bolded. Taking into account the findings from the network analysis visualized in
Figure 1, it is worth noticing that thematic clusters are regularly distributed over the map and their items are
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mostly related to other items within clusters. The most central and prominent nodes in the field, establishing
bridges among the clusters, are associated primarily with professional sport management (Cluster 1) and fans in
sport (Cluster 8) – ‘sport management’, physical activity and health (Cluster 2) – ‘sport’, and IKM in sports
(Cluster 4) – ‘sports’ and ‘sports management’.
Table 4. Clusters of high-frequency keywords in the sport management research field
Cluster number/ label /color
Items (N)
Keywords (occurrences)
Cluster 1
professional sport management
/red
22
branding (10); communication (10); consumer behavior (12); consumer behaviour (13);
corporate social responsibility (27); CSR (10); event management (12); fans (14);
marketing (31); professional sport (14); social identity (10); social media (30);
sponsorship (27); sport events (17); sport fans (10); sport marketing (31); sport
tourism (14); sporting event (10); sports marketing (12); strategy (11); sustainability
(10); team identification (25)
Cluster 2
physical activity and health /green
20
community (12); community sport (11); entrepreneurship (10); Europe (12); health
promotion (12); innovation (15); leadership (22); physical activity (31); policy (15);
social capital (11); sport (126); sport clubs (10); sport development (21); sport for
development (13); sport participation (21); sport policy (29); sport sponsorship (11);
sport-for-development (18); volunteer (12); volunteers (20)
Cluster 3
sports staff /dark blue
10
coaching (11); diversity (12); gender (31); human resource management (20);
management (66); motivation (13); organizational culture (11); performance (17); sport
organizations (13); women (12)
Cluster 4
IKM in sport management /yellow
10
competition (14); decision making (13); information management (27); information
systems (10); information technology (11); knowledge management (10); problem
solving (10); sport managements (14); sports (114); sports management (145)
Cluster 5
governance in sport /violet
9
competitive balance (11); demand (10); football (32); governance (34); institutional
theory (12); intercollegiate athletics (19); Olympic games (19); soccer (13); sport
governance (13)
Cluster 6
sport education and learning /light
blue
8
curriculum (12); education (25); experiential learning (19); higher education (10);
pedagogy (10); students (17); teaching (15); training (12)
Cluster 7
humans in sport /orange
8
adult (12); athlete (17); athletes (12); female (16); human (52); humans (18); male (17);
physical education (25)
Cluster 8
fans in sport /brown
6
loyalty (11), perceived quality (14), perceived value (11); satisfaction (25); service
quality (20); sport management (235)
Source: Own study based on data retrieved from Scopus and analyzed with the use of VOSviewer
(29 Feb. 2020).
Emerging topics
Overlay visualization function of VOSviewer is employed to identify emerging topics of scientific
inquiry in the sport management research field (Figure 2). In the map, colors represent average dates of
publication. The earliest publications are marked in blue. The brighter the color is, the more up-to-date the
publication was issued. The high-frequency keywords of the newest date of publication (2016.00 and beyond)
are listed in Table 5. The catalogue includes as well other bibliometric characteristics such as: the number of
occurrences, the number of links and total links strength. Taking into account the high-frequency keywords of
the newest date of publication, the following emerging topics in the sport management research field are
identified: (1) the use of new information technologies (including social media), (2) sustainable development in
sport, (3) fan satisfaction, and (4) physical activity (including grassroots).
Fig. 2. Average date of publication of high-frequency keywords in the sport management research field
Source: Own study based on data retrieved from Scopus and analyzed with the use of VOSviewer
http://sport.umk.pl/pliki/Fig2_1589197081.png (29 Feb. 2020).
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Table 5. Bibliometric characteristics of the most up-to-date keywords in the sport management research field
(sorted by date of publication)
Keyword
Average publication year
Occurrences
Links
Total links strength
Cluster
social media
2017.47
30
21
40
1
sustainability
2017.40
10
13
18
1
sport for development
2017.31
13
8
8
2
demand
2016.70
10
4
6
4
athletes
2016.50
12
22
46
7
sports marketing
2016.33
12
13
22
1
social identity
2016.30
10
7
9
1
sport organizations
2016.23
13
14
21
3
sport-for-development
2016.22
18
9
13
2
community sport
2016.18
11
10
10
2
soccer
2016.15
13
16
24
5
sporting event
2016.10
10
19
24
1
community
2016.08
12
14
22
2
health promotion
2016.00
12
17
36
2
Source: Own study based on data retrieved from Scopus and analyzed with the use of VOSviewer
(29 Feb. 2020).
Discussion
The bibliometric study of literature on sport management allows to discover and explore the leading
topic areas in the research field. Nevertheless, as already mentioned, the thematic landscape of the amassing
research production in the sport management research field has not been mapped thoroughly yet. This
observation is confirmed by the analysis of publications indexed in the Scopus database. As of 29 February
2020, there are found 11 publications employing bibliometric methods to study the field of sport management
(topic search (‘sport management’) AND topic search (‘bibliometric’ OR ‘bibliometrics’ OR ‘scientometrics’
OR ‘informetrics’)). Excluding one of them, which is an erratum, we studied all remaining publications to
compare and contrast them with our findings. The first category of publications deals with some specific aspects
related to sport management, rather than presents the complete picture of the research field. Shilbury [19] studies
strategic management in the context of sport management focusing on the issue of competition. Ciomaga [20]
explores the field of sport sociology, referring to the papers published in Sociology of Sport Journal and Journal
of Sport and Social Issues between 2003 and 2011, and he explains the predominant role played by some of
leading authors. Durán-Sánchez and associates [21] analyze the scientific output related to the issue of quality
management in sports, with the particular emphasis on research productivity and leading contributors. Ciomaga
[22] discusses convergence challenges in the sport management research field. Koliada et al. [23] include
scientometrics to study “effective management of the interaction of sports teams members by using artificial
intelligence ideas”. Belfiore et al. [24] apply the general publication profiling methodology [cf. 25] to study the
intersections between sport management and educational management. The second category of publications,
including the works of Shilbury [26,27], employs bibliometric analysis to find out the position of leading
journals in the field. Shilbury assesses the influence of “sport management and marketing journals on sport-
related research published in 20 top tier generic management and marketing journals” [27, p. 423]. The another
of his studies is aimed to “identify the most frequently cited sport management and non-sport management
journals based on the analysis of the […] manuscripts published in the Journal of Sport Management, Sport
Marketing Quarterly, European Sport Management Quarterly and Sport Management Review” [26 p. 434.]. The
third category of publications explores the sport management research field with the use of bibliometric
methods. General publication profiling of the field, including identification of the most productive countries,
subject areas and journals, is presented in the work of De la Cruz Del Río-Rama et al. [28]. Ciomaga [29]
employs the bibliometric co-citation analysis to map the “directions in which sport management research has
[…] evolved” [29, p. 557.]. The findings from of his bibliometric analysis of the scientific output in three sport
management journals, published between 1987 and 2020 “point out a number of dominant trends influential over
the entire period covered, focused on change in organizations, consumer motivation in sport marketing and
diversity in organizations. Less influential trends reflect an interest in the impact of sport events, sport
economics and in the status of sport management as an area of research” [29, p. 557.].
In our study, the leading topics in the sport management research field have been identified through the
network analysis of co-occurrence of high-frequency keywords listed in the publications indexed in the Scopus
database. The leading topic areas of scientific inquiry in the field are: (1) professional sport management, (2)
physical activity and health, (3) sports staff, (4) IKM in sport management, (5) governance in sport, (6) sport
education and learning, (7) humans in sport, and (8) fans in sport. Discussing the findings of our study it is worth
noticing two interesting aspects. Firstly, the topic profiling supported with the co-word analysis proves that sport
management is a very broad concept and there is a variety of topics which attract the attention of scholars
cultivating this research field. This observation is confirmed by the analysis of systematic literature reviews
conducted in the field, which deal with very much focused topics. For instance, Peachey, Damon, Zhou and
Burton [30] review leadership studies in the context of sport management. Di Palma, Raiola and Tafuri [31]
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discuss the role of sport management in social inclusion of the disabled people. The issue of special needs and
inclusion in sport is explored by Di Palma and Tafuri [32]. Wang and Song [33] study the modes of sport
management in higher education institutions. Schulenkorf, Sherry and Rowe [34] review scholarly contributions
related to sport for development. Secondly, overlapping of some topical areas categorized in our study is
observed. For instance, Tomanek [35, p. 138] identifies the following factors of quality in sport: customer
satisfaction (fans), benchmarking, sports facilities (infrastructure), sport event, technologies, relationship
architecture, knowledge about the sport industry, and competences. Loia and Orciuoli [36] study the use of
augmented reality (cf. Cluster 4 i.e. IKM in sport management) in learning in sport (cf. Cluster 6 i.e. sport
education and learning).
In our study, we have identified the following emerging (i.e. those with the newest average date of
publication) topics in the sport management research field: (1) the use of new information technologies
(including social media), (2) sustainable development in sport, (3) fan satisfaction, and (4) physical activity
(including grassroots). Considering the aforementioned topics, it may be assumed that due to the achievement of
an advanced development level by sport clubs, nowadays sport organizations shift their attention from traditional
organizational aspects (e.g. structures) or leadership issues to attracting loyal supporters (including sponsors and
the media). The increasing role of information and communication technologies (including social media) and
social responsibility interventions (as indicated earlier [cf. 37]) may be interesting areas for further research. Last
but not least, the resilience of sport organizations in the context the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic caused
by SARS-CoV-2 virus will very likely attract lots of attention of scholars interested in sport management. So far,
the pandemic, considered often as a ‘black swan’ i.e. an unexpected incident of enormous impact on the global
economy, stopped sport competition in numerous disciplines around the world and resulted in postponing sport
events including Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. As highlighted by Parnell, Widdop, Bond and Wilson [38]
“COVID-19 could fundamentally change the way sport operates in the future and requires further analysis. […]
Learning lessons from the crisis, must ensure sport managers and practitioners are better prepared in sport and
society for similar events in the future”.
Conclusions
The study has mapped the thematic landscape within the sport management research field. Firstly, the
leading thematic areas attracting particular attention of academia and their composition have been recognized.
Secondly, the emerging topics in research on sport management have been identified. Thirdly, the findings from
keywords co-occurrence analysis have been discussed in the context of other bibliometric studies.
Taking into account the increase in the number of publications in the research field observed in the
2010s, and the lack of other studies dealing with topic profiling, the study aimed at identifying leading and
emerging topics within the sport management research field seems to be valuable both for theory and practice of
sport management. Mapping the structure of the field and identifying thematic clusters creates added value
especially from the point of view of sport management theory. Co-occurrence analysis of high-frequency
keywords unveils a variety of topics and approaches cultivated in the field and relationships among these topics.
Pointing out ‘hot’ (emerging) topics provides guidance for scholars searching ideas for new, interesting research.
From the point of view of business practice, the study develops situational awareness of sport managers
highlighting the issues they should pay special attention to and supports them in identifying research gaps to be
submitted for exploration in further studies by academia, closing the reciprocal loop between theory and practice.
Discussing the outcomes of the study, its limitations should be taken into account. Employing only one
research method hampers quality of any study due to lack of triangulation. Thus, the process of mapping the
sport management research field should be continued with the use of other research methodologies such as
systematic literature reviews, metanalysis or other bibliometric methods e.g. research profiling [25]. Due to the
bias of the Scopus database to publications written in English, the sample may ignore scientific output produced
in languages other than English (cf. Table 1). Therefore, in the future, similar studies based on the databases
indexing publications written in national languages are welcome to increase objectivity of analysis. Thirdly, as
the pandemic of COVID-19 may be a breakthrough point for sport management, radical re-orientation of
research interest in the field seems to be quite likely. Therefore, replication of the study in 2-3 years perspective
is recommended in order to notice the dynamic changes in the thematic structure of the field.
Conflicts of interest: The authors declare no conflict of interest.
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