Positive Sport Organizational Insights

This book is a concise and accessible introduction to positive organizational behavior in sport, a new and dynamic approach to sport management.

Clearly explaining core concepts, including the central concept of psychological capital, the book shows how ‘positive sport organizations’ (PSO) can deliver improved performance and enhance employee well-being. Standing at the intersection of positive psychology and theories of organizational behavior, the PSO approach focuses on the development of the person within the organization – their human strengths and psychological capacities – in contrast to traditional approaches that have a more limited emphasis on human capital or social capital. The book takes a close look at attributes including passion, grit, and a capacity for innovation, that characterize the effective employee in the modern, fast-paced sport business environment and that can be developed through PSO, and it explains how employee flourishing and corporate social responsibility programmes can be mutually reinforcing.

With examples and cases from contemporary sport business in every chapter, this is illuminating reading for any student, researcher, policy-maker or practitioner with an interest in sport business and management, organizational behavior, corporate social responsibility, human resource management, or human flourishing.

Minjung Kim is an Assistant Professor of Sport Management at Texas A&M University, USA, and the Director of the Positive Sport Organizational Behavior Laboratory. She earned her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from Yonsei University in Korea and a Ph.D. from Florida State University, USA. Her research explores how sport organizations can enhance the well-being of their stakeholders. Dr. Kim has authored 50 academic articles and was awarded the North American Society for Sport Management Fellowship.

Brent D. Oja is an Associate Professor of Sport Management at Louisiana State University, USA. He completed a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor Science at the University of Minnesota, USA. He completed his Master of Science at West Virginia University and earned his Ph.D. at the University of Kansas. His research is grounded in developmental constructs that elevate sport employees’ psychological skillsets, which helps employees excel at work and reach their full potential.

Christos Anagnostopoulos is the Founder and Chairholder of the UNESCO Chair on Governance and Social Responsibility in Sport, a Chair under a joint leadership between the College of Science and Engineering at Hamad Bin Khalifa University in Qatar and the British University of Central Lancashire in Cyprus. At the same time, he is a visiting Associate Professor II in Sport Management at the Faculty of Business Administration and Social Sciences at Molde University College, Norway.