Building a framework for issues management in sport through stakeholder theory

Sport managers are continually challenged by changing constituent environments as they work toward short‐term and long‐term organizational goals. At any given time, decision‐makers may have several issues that must be addressed in order to satisfy the demands of their organization's constituents. As such, managers need robust methods with which to analyze the organization's environment in order to develop strategic planning initiatives. This paper reviews the basic tenets of stakeholder theory and discusses/suggests applications to sports‐related issues, in an effort to show that stakeholder theory has descriptive and prescriptive value for sport management practitioners and academics alike. Stakeholder analysis can be used to identify stakeholders, stakeholder claims, motivations and relative importance, by evaluating stakeholders’ levels of power, legitimacy and urgency related to the issue (Mitchell, Agle & Wood, 1997). These attributes exist at varying levels as an issue develops and solutions are presented over time. In classifying stakeholders based on the attributes of power, legitimacy and urgency, and identifying their underlying needs and expectations, sport managers can more efficiently allocate resources. This paper provides a framework for issue analysis based on the tenets of stakeholder theory and issues management. It also proposes a research agenda to evaluate the framework, as well as considerations for managers wishing to use the framework. In doing so, stakeholder theory allows for new insight into issues management, from both research and practical perspectives.