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The use of Focus Group Interviews to define the perceived importance of competencies related to the entrepreneurship as starting point for a new career in European athletes: an AtLETyC study

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Abstract

Purpose

The present study aimed to investigate the perceived importance of competencies related to entrepreneurship as starting point for a new career in European athletes.

Methods

A Focus Group Interview (FGI) within AtLETyC project (Erasmus+) was administered to 78 European athletes (i.e., 26 female: 27 ± 7 years; 52 male: 28 ± 9 years) related to six countries (i.e., Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Lithuania, Slovenia, Hungary, and Italy). Among 22 items of the FGI, 8 items were focused on general aspects, contact information, the evaluation of the educational background, the sport entrepreneurship expertise, and learning capacity, whereas the remaining 14 Likert scale (i.e., 1–7) items were specifically oriented to determine the perceived importance of entrepreneurship-related competences. For the latter part of the FGI, not-parametric analyses (i.e., Kruskal–Wallis, Mann–Whitney U) were applied.

Results

Results showed that all athletes highly consider the importance of both general and entrepreneurship-related competencies, excepting for the latter items in Slovenian athletes. However, main effects between athletes of different countries emerged in 12 of the 14 items, with the highest mean values (6.0–7.0) reported from Bosnia and Herzegovina athletes and the lowest ones (range 3.6–4.8) from Slovenian counterpart.

Conclusion

Although a cross-national scenario in relation to the perceived importance of sport entrepreneurship competences seems to be influenced by different institutional supports for dual career, general results showed that European athletes highly perceived the importance of such competences, confirming the substantial necessity to apply the AtLETyC action.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Exercise and Sport Sciences (SUISM), Department of Medical Sciences, University of Torino, Piazza Bernini, 12, 10143, Turin, Italy

    Corrado Lupo & Paolo Riccardo Brustio

  2. Institute of International Management, FH JOANNEUM, University of Applied Sciences, Graz, Austria

    Elizabeta Valentic, Doris Kiendl & Rene Wenzel

  3. KADA-Sports with Prospects, Salzburg, Austria

    Wolfgang Stockinger

  4. Department of Sport Management, Economics and Sociology, Lithuanian Sports University, Kaunas, Lithuania

    Irena Valantine & Inga Staskeviciute-Butiene

  5. Faculty of Sport and Physical Education, University of Sarajevo, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina

    Izet Rađo & Dino Mujkić

  6. Sports Management Department, Hungarian University of Physical Education, Budapest, Hungary

    Sujit Chaudhuri

  7. Quality Assurance and Accreditation Office, Hungarian University of Physical Education, Budapest, Hungary

    Judit Farkas

  8. Faculty of Sport, University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia

    Mojca Doupona Topic

  9. Department of Movement, Human and Health Sciences, University of Rome Foro Italico, Rome, Italy

    Flavia Guidotti

Authors
  1. Corrado Lupo
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  2. Paolo Riccardo Brustio
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  3. Elizabeta Valentic
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  4. Doris Kiendl
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  6. Wolfgang Stockinger
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  7. Irena Valantine
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  8. Inga Staskeviciute-Butiene
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  9. Izet Rađo
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  10. Dino Mujkić
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  11. Sujit Chaudhuri
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  13. Mojca Doupona Topic
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  14. Flavia Guidotti
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Corrado Lupo.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Lupo, C., Brustio, P.R., Valentic, E. et al. The use of Focus Group Interviews to define the perceived importance of competencies related to the entrepreneurship as starting point for a new career in European athletes: an AtLETyC study. Sport Sci Health 14, 9–17 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11332-017-0385-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11332-017-0385-2

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