Mapping values in sport clubs: towards a conceptual typology for understanding the bettering of grassroots sport governance

Research Question: The study aims to offer a typology illustrating sport clubs’ common values, and how they influence clubs’ potential responses to policy reforms and modernization efforts. Based on a conceptual framework focusing on the roots of modernization and tradition, as well as intrinsic and extrinsic motivation in grassroots sport, we construct a typology of values inherent and embedded in sport clubs.Research Research methods: We generated some 600 pages of empirical material from published club handbooks, guidelines, and strategy documents from 21 Norwegian sport clubs. The intertextual analysis was influenced by organizational discourse analysis. Results and Findings: The discursive analysis of sport clubs’ official communication reveals four overarching themes underpinning their governance: (a) lifelong activity and community creation; (b) democracy, schooling, and inclusion; (c) voluntarism, local anchoring, and collective understanding; and (d) innovation, professionalism, and communication. Our findings show the variance of values articulated by sport clubs and how they relate to wider traditional, modern, intrinsic, and extrinsic values. Implications: With this study, we can not only conceptualize how sport clubs view modernization efforts embedded in policy initiatives but also better theoretically understand how they would respond to potential reforms. Methodologically, this study provides an alternative approach to the often-quantitative methods on sport club typologies and often-binary golden standards used to measure and implement governance frameworks. For policymakers wanting sport clubs to better their governance, this study offers an understanding of the complexity in which sport clubs operate.