An Analysis of The Perceived
Competencies of Sports
Managers in Taiwan
Ling-Mei Ko
Professor Ian Henry
Centre of Olympic Studies & Research
Structure of the Presentation
• Introduction
─ The Definition of Competency
─ The development of competency-based approach in
sports management
─ Research purpose
• Research Methods
• Findings and Discussion
• Conclusion
Introduction
• The Definition of Competency
“Competencies are the combination of knowledge, skills,
abilities, and personal traits which are utilized to perform a
variety of activities and behaviours effectively.”
• The Development of Competency-Based
Approach in Sports Management
─ The purpose is to identify the body of required
competencies for a sports manager which could be
used for education and training purpose.
Introduction
• Research Purpose
─ To develop a valid and reliable instrument to evaluate
the perceptions of sports managers and academics of
the importance of competencies of sports managers in
Taiwan.
Research Methods
• The Steps of Research
1. Hypothesis Formulation
2. Instrument Development
3. Sample Selection
4. Data Collection
5. Data Analysis
6. Discussions, Implications and Conclusions
Research Methods
• Research Hypothesis
1. Hypothesis Formulation
2. Instrument Development
3. Sample Selection
4. Data Collection
5. Data Analysis
6. Discussions, Implications and Conclusions
─ It is believed that neither
practitioners nor academics,
working alone, can shape the
field of sports management.
─ Hypothesis:
“ There is no significant difference
between sports managers and
academics in terms of their
perceptions of which
competencies are critical to
managerial effectiveness. ”
Research Methods
• Instrument Development
1. Hypothesis Formulation
─ Part 1: Competency
─ Part 2: Demographic Information
2. Instrument Development
1. Systematic Review
3. Sample Selection
4. Data Collection
74
70
4 Items
5. Data Analysis
6. Discussions, Implications and Conclusions
2. Taiwan
Sports Management
Curricula Analysis
No.
Competency
1
To understand financial statements and prepare financial reports.
3. Delphi Method
Importance of this competency
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Research Methods
• Sample Selection
1. Hypothesis Formulation
2. Instrument Development
3.
3. Sample
SampleSelection
Selection
4.
4.4.Data
Data
DataCollection
Collection
Collection
5.
5. Data
Data Analysis
Analysis
6. Discussions, Implications and Conclusions
─ A total size of the sample is 800.
• 150 sports management academics.
• 650 sports managers from sports
services industry
• Data Collection
─ 800 surveys were sent out during
October, 2006.
─ Two follow-ups
• The first one was made 14 days following
the initial mail-out.
• The second one was made three weeks
after the initial mailing.
─ The data collection was
concluded on 31 December,
2006.
Procedure and Purpose
Applied Methods (tools)
Analysis of Response Rate and
Sample Frame
Descriptive Statistics
(SPSS 13.0)
Convergent Validity Analysis of
Competencies
Factor Analysis
(SPSS 13.0)
Reliability Analysis of
Each Factor
Cronbach’s α
(SPSS 13.0)
Analysis of Importance of
Competencies
Descriptive Statistics
(SPSS 13.0)
Testing of the Hypotheses
One- Way MANOVA Analysis
(SPSS 13.0)
Finding out Group Differences in
which Factors
One-Way ANOVA Analysis
(SPSS 13.0)
Findings and Discussion
• Response Rate
Academics
Practitioners
Total
Mailed
Valid Response
150
650
800
83
122
205
Valid
Response Rate
55.3%
18.8%
25.6%
Findings and Discussion
• Agency Setting
Academic
31
83
122
Practitioner
32
Participant sports services
industry
17
Spectator sports services
industry
38
Sports mass media
industry
4
Sports promotion industry
Others
Findings and Discussion
• Finding 1
─ The perceptions of critical competencies to the
successful conducting of a sports manager's job have
been identified.
• An eleven-factor competency model for sports managers
which consisted of 54 competencies was proposed from
factor analysis.
Findings and Discussion
Factor Variables
No. of
Items
% of
Variance
Cumulative
%
Cronbach’s
α
F1
Management Techniques
14
31.665
31.67
0.92
F2
Sports-Related Theory and Foundations
9
7.215
38.88
0.89
F3
Service Provision and Development
5
4.070
42.95
0.84
F4
Foreign Language and Learning Ability
4
3.911
46.86
0.76
F5
Leadership
4
3.057
49.92
0.73
F6
Finance, Economics and Analytic Abilities
4
2.716
52.63
0.73
F7
Communication
3
2.486
55.12
0.69
F8
Political Awareness
4
2.463
57.58
0.80
F9
Accounting and Risk Management
2
2.413
60.00
0.62
F 10
Information Technology
2
2.121
62.12
0.73
F 11
Management Theory and Knowledge Management
3
1.990
64.11
0.69
Findings and Discussion
Rank Factor Variables
Mean
Value
SD
1
F1
Management Techniques
6.08
0.57
2
F5
Leadership
6.02
0.68
3
F4
Foreign Language and Learning Ability
5.95
0.66
4
F7
Communication
5.80
0.65
5
F 11
Management Theory and Knowledge Management
5.68
0.71
6
F3
Service Provision and Development
5.56
0.71
7
F 10
Information Technology
5.50
0.78
8
F9
Accounting and Risk Management
5.35
0.78
9
F6
Finance, Economics and Analytic Abilities
5.28
0.74
10
F2
Sports-Related Theory and Foundations
5.14
0.71
11
F8
Political Awareness
5.01
0.90
7-point Likert Scale: 1 (not important at all) – 7 (extremely important)
Findings and Discussion
• Finding 2
─ The perceptional difference between sports managers
and academics on the importance of which competencies
are critical to managerial effectiveness has been found.
• The perceptional difference has been found in the test of
One-Way Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) and
One-Way ANOVA.
Findings and Discussion
• One-Way MANOVA for the Overall Difference
between Academics and Practitioners
Effect
Academic and Practitioner
Groups
**P < 0.01
Wilks’
Lambda
F
statistics
Significant
0.612
1.764
0.004**
One-way ANOVA for the Differences between Groups in
Each Factor
Academics
Factor Variables
Practitioners
Sig.
Rank
Mean
SD
Rank
Mean
SD
3
6.11
0.59
1
6.05
0.55
0.458n.s.
10-11
5.23
0.72
10
5.07
0.70
0.118n.s.
F1
Management Techniques
F2
Sports Related Theory and Foundations
F3
Service Provision and Development
6
5.71
0.68
6
5.46
0.72
0.013*
F4
Foreign Language and Learning Ability
1
6.17
0.64
3
5.80
0.63
0.000***
F5
Leadership
2
6.13
0.63
2
5.94
0.70
0.056n.s.
F6
Finance, Economics and Analytic Abilities
9
5.30
0.79
8
5.28
0.72
0.862n.s.
F7
Communication
4
5.87
0.61
4
5.75
0.68
0.224n.s.
F8
Political Awareness
10-11
5.23
0.97
11
4.86
0.81
0.004**
F9
Accounting and Risk Management
8
5.51
0.78
9
5.24
0.76
0.014*
F10
Information Technology
7
5.58
0.85
7
5.44
0.73
0.204n.s.
F11
Management Theory and Knowledge Management
5
5.82
0.69
5
5.58
0.71
0.021*
7-point Likert Scale: 1 (not important at all) – 7 (extremely important)
***P < 0.001; **P < 0.01; *P < 0.05; n.s.= non significant
Findings and Discussion
• Finding 3
Mean
─ Although the perceptional difference between 2 groups on
the important competencies has been found, the difference
is slight. The results only reported different degrees of
agreement of the importance for all competencies.
6.5
6.25
6
5.75
5.5
5.25
5
4.75
4.5
F1
F5
F4
F7
F11
F3
F10
F9
F6
Ranking of Factors
Academic
Practitioner
Total
F2
F8
Conclusion
• The main contribution of this paper lies in the identification
of perceptions of critical competencies of a successful
sports manager.
• The findings of this study have several significant
implications for both academics and practitioners.
─ Academics
• To design curriculum or to modify the existing curricula in
a more integrated and competency-based educational
programme.
─ Practitioners
• As a guideline in recruiting competent sports managers,
evaluating performance of employees, and training.
Thank you!