Seasonality and decision-making in minor league sports leadership

Purpose This study explores how the seasonal sport calendar shapes leadership and decision-making in minor league sport organizations. While patterns attributed to seasonality are better documented in tourism and education research, the effects of a seasonal calendar remain underexplored in sport management literature. Design/methodology/approach Guided by contingency theory, semi-structured interviews were conducted with minor league sport executives to examine how leadership practices, stakeholder management and human resource strategies shift between in-season and off-season contexts. Leaders were asked about how the dichotomous environments of the in-season and off-season influenced both their decision-making as leaders and their experiences as employees working under these temporal conditions. Findings Thematic analysis revealed three major themes: balancing stakeholder priorities, evaluating operations to allocate resources and adapting leadership styles across the seasonal cycle. Findings highlight the contrast between reactive, heuristic decision-making during the season and proactive, analytical approaches in the off-season. These adaptive strategies not only sustain organizational performance but also affect employees' professional development, well-being and retention. Research limitations/implications Results underscore seasonality as a vital dimension of organizational behavior in sport and inform strategies for strategic planning within sport organizations. Practical implications The season of play and the off-season are modeled here as distinct organizational environments rather than a temporal fluctuation of workload and organizational demands. Consideration of the off-season as the main period for organizational planning rather than a simple break from the demands of the season may help sport leaders better optimize the off-season period for the benefits of the organization and its employees. Originality/value This study offers a novel examination of the temporal dynamics inherent in the seasonal calendar, extending beyond broad leadership behaviors to emphasize adaptations specific to contextual demands. Moreover, both the minor league setting and its employee population remain significantly underrepresented in organizational scholarship on sport organizations.