Understanding Interorganizational Relationships and Organizational Capacity in a Youth Baseball Network

Abstract

Within the Canadian sport system there has been a noted decline in team sport participation among youth athletes. Factors that have contributed to this decline include increased competition amongst organizations, a larger number of sport options and sport specialization. Baseball in particular is a sport that has seen declining participation rates in recent years. Within the sport management literature two key concepts have emerged as key areas of interest for youth sport organizations in their operations; interorganizational relationships and organizational capacity. Interorganizational relationship (IOR) development has been identified as an effective strategy for strengthening the capacity of youth sport organizations (Misener & Doherty, 2013). Organizational capacity has been related to the ability of organizations to draw on a variety of resources to help achieve desired outcomes (Hall et al., 2003), while there is also evidence to support the connection between greater organizational capacity and increased success in achieving these outcomes (Jones et al., 2017). Thus, the purpose of this research study was to examine the relationship between interorganizational relationships and organizational capacity within a youth baseball network in the Niagara Region of Ontario, Canada. Data were collected from representatives of ten youth baseball organizations through a survey instrument via telephone interview format. Data were analyzed using a social network analysis methodology including the use of the UCINET 6.0 software program and NetDraw function that allowed for the calculation of density and centrality measures along with visual representations of the network. QAP Multiple Regression analysis was also conducted and showed that IORs and sector were both found to be statistically significant in their ability to predict organizational capacity ties within this network. Overall, the results of this study allowed for conclusions to be drawn related to network structure, state of organizational capacity, and the relationship between IORs and organizational capacity in this youth baseball network.