IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/cog/socinc/v13y2025a9426.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Power of Intangible Resources for Cause Champions in Sport‐For‐Development: A Singapore Case Study

Author

Listed:
  • Sophia Harith

    (Department of Management, LUNEX, Luxembourg / Department of Movement and Sport Sciences, Ghent University, Belgium)

  • Mathieu Marlier

    (Department of Management, LUNEX, Luxembourg)

  • Wai Cheong Eugene Chew

    (S R Nathan School of Human Development, Singapore University of Social Science, Singapore)

  • Mathieu Winand

    (Department of Management, LUNEX, Luxembourg)

  • Annick Willem

    (Department of Movement and Sport Sciences, Ghent University, Belgium)

Abstract

Cause champions are recognised to play a meaningful role in supporting the delivery and impact of sport‐for‐development (SFD) programmes. They are individuals who emerge from a programme’s target community and assume a leadership role to advocate for social change. However, there remains limited empirical inquiry on the factors that enable cause champions to thrive. Therefore, this study explored the most essential resources needed for cause champions to succeed in SportCares, an SFD organisation in Singapore. In total, 18 semi‐structured interviews were conducted with staff members, coaches, and cause champions. Three essential resources were identified: sustained tangible resources (i.e., funding and physical infrastructure), invested human capital (i.e., staff and coaches’ efforts), and organisational capital of emotional authenticity (i.e., sincerity through communication). The findings demonstrated that the interaction of these resources fostered a culture of care that supported the champion’s ability to advocate for social change. These results urge monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL) practices to focus more on intangible and relational processes such as co‐creation sessions and authentic storytelling.

Suggested Citation

  • Sophia Harith & Mathieu Marlier & Wai Cheong Eugene Chew & Mathieu Winand & Annick Willem, 2025. "The Power of Intangible Resources for Cause Champions in Sport‐For‐Development: A Singapore Case Study," Social Inclusion, Cogitatio Press, vol. 13.
    • Handle: RePEc:cog:socinc:v13:y:2025:a:9426
    DOI: 10.17645/si.9426
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/socialinclusion/article/view/9426
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.17645/si.9426?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    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:cog:socinc:v13:y:2025:a:9426. 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.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using 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: António Vieira or IT Department (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.cogitatiopress.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.