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Brandt, Christian ; Heidenreich, Heiko ; Kurscheidt, Markus:
Legitimacy Of Competing Golf Tournament Series : An Interview Study On Fan Perspectives.
2024
Veranstaltung: 32nd European Sport Management Conference: EASM Sport Management and Social Inclusion
, 3-6 September 2024
, Paris, France.
(Veranstaltungsbeitrag: Kongress/Konferenz/Symposium/Tagung
,
Vortrag
)
Abstract
Aim and Research Questions
Fans are recognized as key stakeholder in sports, influencing broadcasting, sponsors and the competition itself (Biscaia et al., 2018). Sport organizations aim to gain fan acceptance and must effectively convey their legitimacy to them. This is crucial in situations where multiple organizations compete for demand and legitimacy in the same product segment of professional spectator sports. Such a close market rivalry may occur both at the highest levels of a sport and on a regional scale. While competitive market structures are common outside the sport industry, in a specific sport, fans are used to monopoly leagues and tournament series. New contestants challenging established suppliers may be perceived as controversial and illegitimate. Golf provides an insightful case study of oligopolistic competition dynamics, following the market entrance of the LIV Tour as a direct competitor to the long-standing PGA and DP World Tours in 2021. Financed by the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund, the LIV Tour achieved significant success by recruiting top athletes from the PGA, prompting the latter to prohibit these players from participating in their competitions (DiMarco, 2023; Jephson, 2023). With LIV and PGA, two sport organizations compete for legitimacy. This competition provides the opportunity to study fan perceptions of this rivalry. In particular, the study aims to understand how fans’ perceptions of organizational legitimacy are formed and develop. The results offer novel insights in fan perceptions on legitimacy of sports competition structures.
Theoretical Background and Literature Review
Within institutional theory, the notion of legitimacy holds significant importance in comprehending how organizations navigate their existence within a social framework. Meyer and Rowan (1977) assert that organizations actively pursue legitimacy, which can be defined as “the perceived appropriateness of an organization to a social system in terms of rules, values, norms, and definitions” (Deephouse et al., 2017, p. 32). In the context of the PGA’s quest for legitimacy, Nite et al. (2024) studied how actors within the PGA strategically frame messages to influence legitimacy perceptions. Their findings reveal three framing strategies: firstly, emphasizing the sacredness of PGA traditions and heritage; secondly, portraying the LIV as a threat to the sport; and thirdly, highlighting the value of PGA golf’s meritocratic structures. In contrast, our study aims to explore which framing strategies fans employ in shaping legitimacy perceptions of the PGA and LIV Tour.
Research Design, Methodology and Data Analysis
We carried out 17 semi-structured online interviews in Germany, utilizing a selective and snowball sampling technique. All of them were golf enthusiasts and amateur players, aged between 23 and 60. Three of them are working for local golf clubs, two as golf journalists. Interviews ranged from 22 minutes to 1 hour and 19 minutes, covering a wide array of topics including background information, consumption habits, perceptions of PGA versus LIV, and opinions on the potential merger. For data analysis, we employed a thematic approach, following Braun and Clarke (2022).
Results/Findings and Discussion
The initial findings indicate that legitimizing and delegitimizing narratives exist for both tours. Several themes identified by Nite et al (2024) are also found in the perceptions of interviewees on both tours. While some fans praise PGA’s tradition, others perceive it as outdated. While some legitimize the PGA and its meritocratic prize money structures, others delegitimize it as it ignores the interests of athletes. While some fans legitimize LIV as growing the game by attracting new fans and sponsors, others delegitimize the LIV as threatening the game as the best players are no longer competing against each other. In addition to the results of Nite et al (2024), the LIV is delegitimized as a sportswashing project including several negative attitudes towards Saudi Arabia and people from the Arabian Peninsula. These contradictory 328 statements of interviewees highlight the complexity of fan perspectives, showcasing a nuanced interaction between institutional framing and varied interpretations by fans.
Conclusion, Contribution, and Implication
The results indicate that the LIV Tour could address needs that the PGA Tour failed to satisfy for some fans, thereby legitimizing the tournament series. Fans different needs reflect diverse expectations and values among golf fans. This result suggests that a potential merger will struggle to reconcile these conflicting perceptions. From a theoretical angle the example of sportswashing demonstrates that fans develop legitimizations and delegitimizations independently of the organization’s framing. They also refer to existing beliefs and public discourses beyond the influence of the two organisations.
References
Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2022). Thematic analysis: A practical guide. Sage.
Biscaia, R., Hedlund, D. P., Dickson, G., & Naylor, M. (2018). Conceptualising and measuring fan identity using stakeholder theory. European Sport Management Quarterly, 18(4), 459–481. https://oi.org/10.1080/16184742.2017.1413580
Deephouse, D. L., & Suchman, M. C. (2013). Legitimacy in organizational institutionalism. In R. Greenwood, C. Oliver, K. Sahlin, & R. Suddaby (Eds.), The Sage handbook of organizational institutionalism (pp. 49–77). Sage.
Jephson, N. (2023). On the intrusion of LIV: Brute-force bumps, unexpected unification and the future of professional golf. International Journal of Sport Policy and Politics. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/19406940.2023.2290113
DiMarco, J. (2023). PGA Tour golf players and LIV Golf: Communication and image repair strategies. Sage business cases. Sage. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781529620207
Meyer, J. W., & Rowan, B. (1977). Institutionalized organizations: formal structure as myth and ceremony. American Journal of Sociology, 83, 340–363. https://doi.org/10.1086/226550
Nite, C., Keaton, A., Neff, P., & Fulk, C. (2024). The legitimacy work of institutional disruption and maintenance: Examining the rivalry between LIV golf and the professional
golf association. European Sport Management Quarterly, 24(1), 113–133. https://doi.org/10.1080/16184742.2023.222984
8
Suchman, M. C. (1995). Managing legitimacy: Strategic and institutional approaches. Academy of Management Review, 20, 571–610. https://doi.org/10.2307/258788
Weitere Angaben
| Publikationsform: | Veranstaltungsbeitrag (Vortrag) |
|---|---|
| Begutachteter Beitrag: | Ja |
| Institutionen der Universität: | Fakultäten > Kulturwissenschaftliche Fakultät > Institut für Sportwissenschaft > Lehrstuhl Sportwissenschaft II - Sport Governance und Eventmanagement > Lehrstuhl Sportwissenschaft II - Sport Governance und Eventmanagement - Univ.-Prof. Dr. Markus Kurscheidt Forschungseinrichtungen > Zentrale wissenschaftliche Einrichtungen > Bayreuther Zentrum für Sportwissenschaft (BaySpo) |
| Titel an der UBT entstanden: | Ja |
| Themengebiete aus DDC: | 300 Sozialwissenschaften 700 Künste und Unterhaltung > 790 Sport, Spiele, Unterhaltung |
| Eingestellt am: | 02 Dec 2024 08:28 |
| Letzte Änderung: | 02 Dec 2024 08:28 |
| URI: | https://eref.uni-bayreuth.de/id/eprint/91292 |