IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijfss/v10y2022i4p86-d922135.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

CSR in Professional Football in Times of Crisis: New Ways in a Challenging New Normal

Author

Listed:
  • Severin J. S. Oeckl

    (Faculty of Health Sciences and Sport, University of Stirling, Stirling FK9 4LA, UK)

  • Stephen Morrow

    (Edinburgh Business School, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh EH14 4AS, UK)

Abstract

While corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities are well-established among football clubs, COVID-19 challenged clubs’ capacity and commitment to continue delivering in times of crisis. Focusing on Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) Premiership clubs and their charitable foundations, we examined challenges presented by restrictions and limited resources and how these impacted the decision making of CSR managers, as well as their prioritisation of projects undertaken. Qualitative research methods were applied in a two-step process. A content analysis drawing on publicly available resources provided a holistic overview of the CSR landscape in Scottish football. Subsequent semi-structured interviews with CSR managers of four clubs’ foundations offered detailed insights into crisis response. We found that resource limitations resulted primarily in operational rather than financial difficulties. To remain functional and consistent with their motives, foundations initiated new ways to address target groups’ social needs. Specifically, delivery shifted towards direct help and short-term support. While foundations continued to benefit from being associated with the parent football club, autonomy from the club was a critical success factor intensifying stakeholder relationships and community links. COVID-19-related disruptive factors resulted in more rapid decision making and greater empowerment of operational staff. Lessons learned have potential implications for CSR management post-pandemic.

Suggested Citation

  • Severin J. S. Oeckl & Stephen Morrow, 2022. "CSR in Professional Football in Times of Crisis: New Ways in a Challenging New Normal," IJFS, MDPI, vol. 10(4), pages 1-26, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijfss:v:10:y:2022:i:4:p:86-:d:922135
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7072/10/4/86/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7072/10/4/86/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Walter C. Neale, 1964. "The Peculiar Economics of Professional Sports," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 78(1), pages 1-14.
    2. Stephen Morrow, 1999. "The New Business of Football," Palgrave Macmillan Books, Palgrave Macmillan, number 978-0-230-37174-3.
    3. Hammerschmidt, Jonas & Durst, Susanne & Kraus, Sascha & Puumalainen, Kaisu, 2021. "Professional football clubs and empirical evidence from the COVID-19 crisis: Time for sport entrepreneurship?," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 165(C).
    4. Nicolas Scelles & Stefan Szymanski & Nadine Dermit-Richard, 2018. "Insolvency in French Soccer," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 19(5), pages 603-624, June.
    5. Jonas Hammerschmidt & Fabian Eggers & Sascha Kraus & Paul Jones & Matthias Filser, 2020. "Entrepreneurial orientation in sports entrepreneurship - a mixed methods analysis of professional soccer clubs in the German-speaking countries," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 16(3), pages 839-857, September.
    6. Kathy Babiak & Sylvia Trendafilova, 2011. "CSR and environmental responsibility: motives and pressures to adopt green management practices," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 18(1), pages 11-24, January.
    7. Alexander Dahlsrud, 2008. "How corporate social responsibility is defined: an analysis of 37 definitions," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 15(1), pages 1-13, January.
    8. Carroll, Archie B., 1991. "The pyramid of corporate social responsibility: Toward the moral management of organizational stakeholders," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 34(4), pages 39-48.
    9. He, Hongwei & Harris, Lloyd, 2020. "The impact of Covid-19 pandemic on corporate social responsibility and marketing philosophy," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 176-182.
    10. Beiderbeck, Daniel & Frevel, Nicolas & von der Gracht, Heiko A. & Schmidt, Sascha L. & Schweitzer, Vera M., 2021. "The impact of COVID-19 on the European football ecosystem – A Delphi-based scenario analysis," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 165(C).
    11. J. James Reade & Dominik Schreyer & Carl Singleton, 2020. "Echoes: what happens when football is played behind closed doors?," Economics Discussion Papers em-dp2020-14, Department of Economics, University of Reading.
    12. Adam Lindgreen & José-Rodrigo Córdoba, 2010. "Editorial: Corporate Social Responsibility in Latin America," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 91(2), pages 167-170, February.
    13. Shaomin Li & Marc Fetscherin & Ilan Alon & Christoph Lattemann & Kuang Yeh, 2010. "Corporate Social Responsibility in Emerging Markets," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 50(5), pages 635-654, October.
    14. Gema Lobillo Mora & Xavier Ginesta & Jordi de San Eugenio Vela, 2021. "Corporate Social Responsibility and Football Clubs: The Value of Environmental Sustainability as a Basis for the Rebranding of Real Betis Balompié in Spain," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(24), pages 1-16, December.
    15. Maignan, Isabelle & Ferrell, O. C., 2001. "Antecedents and benefits of corporate citizenship: an investigation of French businesses," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 51(1), pages 37-51, January.
    16. Joshua McLeod & Andrews Adams & Katherine Sang, 2020. "Ethical Strategists in Scottish Football: The Role of Social Capital in Stakeholder Engagement," International Journal of Business Governance and Ethics, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 14(3), pages 298-316.
    17. Fischer, Kai & Haucap, Justus, 2020. "Does crowd support drive the home advantage in professional soccer? Evidence from German ghost games during the COVID-19 pandemic," DICE Discussion Papers 344, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf Institute for Competition Economics (DICE).
    18. Matthew Walker & Bob Heere & Milena Parent & Dan Drane, 2010. "Social Responsibility and the Olympic Games: The Mediating Role of Consumer Attributions," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 95(4), pages 659-680, September.
    19. Pedro Garcia-del-Barrio & Stefan Szymanski, 2009. "Goal! Profit Maximization Versus Win Maximization in Soccer," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 34(1), pages 45-68, February.
    20. Stephen Morrow, 1999. "Rich Man, Poor Man — Players in the New Business of Football," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: The New Business of Football, chapter 2, pages 30-57, Palgrave Macmillan.
    21. François Maon & Adam Lindgreen & Valérie Swaen, 2009. "Designing and Implementing Corporate Social Responsibility: An Integrative Framework Grounded in Theory and Practice," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 87(1), pages 71-89, April.
    22. Antoine Feuillet & Mickael Terrien & Nicolas Scelles & Christophe Durand, 2021. "Determinants of coopetition and contingency of strategic choices: the case of professional football clubs in France," Post-Print halshs-02974491, HAL.
    23. Wray Vamplew, 1982. "The Economics of a Sports Industry: Scottish Gate-Money Football, 1890–1914," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 35(4), pages 549-567, November.
    24. Dr Geoff Walters & Dr Richard Tacon, 2011. "Corporate Social Responsibility in European Football - A report funded by the UEFA Research Grant Programme," Birkbeck Sports Business Centre Working Papers 4, Birkbeck College, Department of Management.
    25. Abel Duarte Alonso & Michelle O'Shea, 2012. "“You only get back what you put in”: perceptions of professional sport organizations as community anchors," Community Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 43(5), pages 656-676, December.
    26. Yuhei Inoue & Aubrey Kent, 2012. "Investigating the role of corporate credibility in corporate social marketing: A case study of environmental initiatives by professional sport organizations," Sport Management Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 15(3), pages 330-344, July.
    27. George Akerlof, 1976. "The Economics of Caste and of the Rat Race and Other Woeful Tales," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 90(4), pages 599-617.
    28. Wyper, Grant Mark Andrew & Fletcher, Eilidh & Grant, Ian & Harding, Oliver & de Haro Moro, Maria Teresa & Stockton, Diane L & McCartney, Gerard, 2021. "Inequalities in population health loss by multiple deprivation: COVID-19 and pre-pandemic all-cause disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) in Scotland," SocArXiv js3h6, Center for Open Science.
    29. John Goddard & Peter Sloane (ed.), 2014. "Handbook on the Economics of Professional Football," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 14821.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Marc Rohde & Christoph Breuer, 2018. "Competing by investments or efficiency? Exploring financial and sporting efficiency of club ownership structures in European football," Sport Management Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 21(5), pages 563-581, December.
    2. Kelsy Hejjas & Graham Miller & Caroline Scarles, 2019. "“It’s Like Hating Puppies!” Employee Disengagement and Corporate Social Responsibility," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 157(2), pages 319-337, June.
    3. Lee, Seoki & Seo, Kwanglim & Sharma, Amit, 2013. "Corporate social responsibility and firm performance in the airline industry: The moderating role of oil prices," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 20-30.
    4. Kuang-Hua Hu & Sin-Jin Lin & Jau-Yang Liu & Fu-Hsiang Chen & Shih-Han Chen, 2018. "The Influences of CSR’s Multi-Dimensional Characteristics on Firm Value Determination by a Fusion Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-12, October.
    5. Madeeha Zafar & Imran Ali, 2016. "The Influence of Corporate Social Responsibility on Employee Commitment: The Mediating Role of Employee Company Identification," Asian Social Science, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 12(12), pages 262-262, December.
    6. Tahniyath Fatima & Said Elbanna, 2023. "Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Implementation: A Review and a Research Agenda Towards an Integrative Framework," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 183(1), pages 105-121, February.
    7. Mark Avis & Roman Konopka & Diana Gregory-Smith & Nitha Palakshappa, 2022. "Disentangling Consumers’ CSR Knowledge Types and Effects," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-20, September.
    8. Hana Hlochova, 2019. "The Origins of CSR In Theory and Practice: Chapter from CSR History In The CEE Region," International Journal of Business Research and Management (IJBRM), Computer Science Journals (CSC Journals), vol. 10(4), pages 84-101, December.
    9. Laura Corazza & Simone Domenico Scagnelli & Chiara Mio, 2017. "Simulacra and Sustainability Disclosure: Analysis of the Interpretative Models of Creating Shared Value," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 24(5), pages 414-434, September.
    10. Adelaide Martins & Manuel Castelo Branco & Pedro Novo Melo & Carolina Machado, 2022. "Sustainability in Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises: A Systematic Literature Review and Future Research Agenda," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(11), pages 1-26, May.
    11. Hafiz Yasir Ali & Muhammad Asrar‐ul‐Haq & Shaheera Amin & Sadaf Noor & Muhammad Haris‐ul‐Mahasbi & Muhammad Kashif Aslam, 2020. "Corporate social responsibility and employee performance: The mediating role of employee engagement in the manufacturing sector of Pakistan," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 27(6), pages 2908-2919, November.
    12. Jay Joseph & Helen Borland & Marc Orlitzky & Adam Lindgreen, 2020. "Seeing Versus Doing: How Businesses Manage Tensions in Pursuit of Sustainability," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 164(2), pages 349-370, June.
    13. Bongani Munkuli & Renee Horne, 2018. "Financial Markets Value Reputation for Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) – A Study of the South African Mining Sector," Africagrowth Agenda, Africagrowth Institute, vol. 15(2), pages 17-22.
    14. Toma, Pierluigi & Campobasso, Francesco, 2023. "Using data analytics to capture the strategic and financial decision-making of Europe's top football club," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 186(PA).
    15. Chanin Yoopetch & Suthep Nimsai & Boonying Kongarchapatara, 2022. "Bibliometric Analysis of Corporate Social Responsibility in Tourism," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(1), pages 1-16, December.
    16. Peng Zhou & Felix Arndt & Kun Jiang & Weiqi Dai, 2021. "Looking Backward and Forward: Political Links and Environmental Corporate Social Responsibility in China," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 169(4), pages 631-649, April.
    17. Åse Jacobsen & Morten Kringstad & Tor-Eirik Olsen, 2021. "Extraordinary Funding and a Financially Viable Football Industry—Friends or Foes? A Norwegian Football League Perspective," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(5), pages 1-19, March.
    18. Marc Rohde & Christoph Breuer, 2016. "Europe’s Elite Football: Financial Growth, Sporting Success, Transfer Investment, and Private Majority Investors," IJFS, MDPI, vol. 4(2), pages 1-20, June.
    19. Izabela Jonek-Kowalska & Mariusz Zielinski, 2020. "How CSR Affects Polish Enterprises," European Research Studies Journal, European Research Studies Journal, vol. 0(4), pages 785-803.
    20. Hannes Hofmann & Martin C. Schleper & Constantin Blome, 2018. "Conflict Minerals and Supply Chain Due Diligence: An Exploratory Study of Multi-tier Supply Chains," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 147(1), pages 115-141, January.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijfss:v:10:y:2022:i:4:p:86-:d:922135. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.