CHARTING STRATEGIC FRONTIERS IN SPORT MANAGEMENT: A BIBLIOMETRIC INQUIRY INTO SHIFTING RESEARCH PARADIGMS
CHARTING STRATEGIC FRONTIERS IN SPORT MANAGEMENT: A BIBLIOMETRIC INQUIRY INTO SHIFTING RESEARCH PARADIGMS

Summary/Abstract: This study explores the development of sport management academics through brief global published, peer‐reviewed articles. Eligible works were drawn from WebofScience database that reflects wide geographic diversity, institutional settings, and disciplinary perspectives. Five main themes found by mapping co‐occurring keywords include leadership and team performance; digital marketing and fan engagement; sustainability and corporate social responsibility; human resource strategies; governance and policy innovation. The traditional temporal trend analysis for this field shows a clear shift from early emphasis on more traditional management practices to the currently accepted stronger emphasis on digital strategies and ethical governance. The findings point to emerging interests in technology-based marketing methods and sustainability issues as further evidence of a paradigmatic change in research priorities. Limitations include coverage confined to one citation source and possible underrepresentation of regionally indexed literature. Implications for theory and practice include encouraging interdisciplinary research that integrates digital analytics, organizational behavior, and ethics; and using it as a basis to guide policymakers in creating novel governance frameworks. Future work should expand the evidence base by incorporating more databases, complementing bibliometric results with qualitative methods, and deepening understanding of underlying drivers and contextual nuances.

• Details
• Contents