Examining the Body of Scholarship in Sport Management: A Content Analysis of the European Sport Management Quarterly

Scholars in sport business management have made particular note of the critical need for a comprehensive body of knowledge for the field. Dr. Earle F. Ziegler noted in 1987 that, "any profession must have a sound body of knowledge to under gird it if it is to survive with its professional status fully recognized by society" (p. 15). Moreover, Dr. Brenda G. Pitts stated in 2002 "a body of knowledge that includes all known facts, theories, and principles about a subject is necessary for the continued and sustained growth of an academic field" (p. 88). Dr. Karen Danylchuk and Dr. Michael Judd noted that scholarly journals are a major source of information to academicians (1996). Moreover, several noted sport management scholars have challenged their colleagues to assess the literature in the field (Barber, Parkhouse, & Tedrick, 2001, Chelladurai, 1992, Olafson, 1990, Parks, 1992, Paton, 1987, Pitts, 2001). Finally, Pedersen & Pitts (2001) stated "taking a critical examination for the literature in a field can help determine what is on the cutting edge, considered valuable, or esteemed by academicians" and that "critical self-examination can reveal advances and identify areas for improvement" (p. 8). Examination of the body of knowledge in sport management is at its infancy currently. Of the now dozen-plus sport business management journals, three have been included in research analysis. To date these studies have included only three journals: Journal of Sport Management, Sport Marketing Quarterly, and Journal of Sports Economics and include the following: Mondello & Pedersen, 2003, Quarterman, Jackson, & Chen, 2006, Quarterman, Jackson, Kim, Yoo, Koo, Pruegger, & Han, 2006, Quarterman, Pitts, Jackson, Kim & Kim, 2005, Pedersen & Pitts, 2001, Pitts & Pedersen, 2005. A review of these studies reveals some similar general findings: most research focuses on a few American men’s professional sports and men’s collegiate sports, and most are of a management or marketing nature. As one of the earliest sport business management journals, the European Sport Management Quarterly (ESMQ) has become one of the leading sport management academic publications. It began in May 1994 as the European Journal for Sport Management and has since published 34 issues through 2007. Similar to the Journal of Sport Management as being sponsored by the North American Society for Sport Management, the European Sport Management Quarterly is sponsored by the European Association for Sport Management. To date there has been no critical review of the journal to provide an important analysis of its status. Such a review would provide an examination of where the journal is situated in regard to coverage of content topics, an overview of authors and their characteristics, and an overview of where gaps might exist that perhaps need attention of the association. Therefore, it was the purpose of this study to conduct an examination of the European Sport Management Quarterly (ESMQ). Content analysis methodology was used to examine every issue (n = 34) of the journal from the inaugural issue in 1994 through the last issue of 2007. The data are currently being analyzed and include the following: number of issues and research articles, authors and their nationality and gender, editors and editorial board members and their nationality and gender, research methodologies used in the studies, sport management content areas studied (management, marketing, cultural, financial, facility, law, education), and, sport industry segments studied (professional sports, participant sport, college sports, sporting goods, research services, and others). The complete findings will be presented. Additionally, the findings will be compared to the findings of the studies in the current literature. This study will add to and move forward the state of the small, incomplete but developing literature regarding examining the body of knowledge. This study and future research is greatly needed to gain a comprehensive analysis of the state of the literature in sport management.