Special Issue of the Journal of Sport Management

Next-Generation Sport Employees: Shaping the Future of Organizational Behavior in Sport

Guest Editors

Minjung Kim, Texas A&M University

Elizabeth Taylor, Temple University

Marlene A. Dixon, Texas A&M University

As a well-established field within sport management, organizational behavior in sport has a rich history of discovering organizational processes, interpersonal dynamics, and sport employees’ actions and attitudes (MacIntosh & Burton, 2024). Since the 1990s, scholars have contributed to this field by identifying the distinctive characteristics of sport organizations and proposing implications for human resource management within the sport industry (e.g., Chelladurai, 1992; Doherty, 1998). For example, leadership research, a prominent area in sport organizational behavior, has been actively pursued through diverse paradigms and across various sporting contexts (Welty Peachey et al., 2015). However, despite the extensive body of literature, significant gaps remain in understanding the next generation of sport employees (whom we are educating) in the rapidly evolving sport industry.

Today, we navigate a world defined by volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity (VUCA), raising critical questions for sport organizations: What competencies and job attributes are essential for sport employees in this global era? What values and work lifestyles do sport employees strive for? The lack of sufficient attention to these questions may be contributing to the prevalence of workaholism and burnout among sport employees (Huml et al., 2023; Taylor et al., 2024). Over the last few decades, the dynamic evolution of the sport industry and behavioral shifts both post COVID and generationally have underscored the need for deeper exploration of sport employees. While archetypes of sport industry employees have been proposed (Weight et al., 2021), more integrated and empirical studies on millennial and Generation Z sport employees are urgently needed to foster a competitive advantage for sport organizations.

We argue it is time for sport organizational behavior scholars to revisit and expand the field's boundaries by exploring diverse perspectives, new theories, conceptual frameworks, and innovative practical strategies, consistent with the mission of Journal of Sport Management. The goal of this special issue is to foster scholarship that explores strategies for empowering next-generation sport employees to thrive, enhance performance in VUCA environments, and achieve personal fulfillment through their careers in the sport industry. The potential topics for this special issue are offered as suggestions and are not exhaustive, inviting contributions from a range of areas, including but not limited to:

• Millennial and Generation Z Employee Growth and Development
• Technological Adaptation and Analytical Skills
• Artificial Intelligence (AI) Integration into Human Resource Management
• Human Resource Management During the Off-Season
• Cultural Intelligence and Globalization
• The Role of Sport Involvement for Employee Well-Being
• Intergenerational Collaboration
• Innovative Management Practices for Early-Career Employees
• Work Modalities: Office, Remote, and/or Hybrid Modes
• Work-Life Negotiation
• Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) policy and practice, and Employee Experience

Submission Guidelines

Manuscripts should follow American Psychological Association (www.apa.org) publication formatting and should be prepared in accordance with the Journal of Sport Management “Author Guidelines.” Manuscripts must not have been previously published and must not be submitted to another journal while under review at the Journal of Sport Management.

Manuscripts should be submitted no later than August 31, 2025, using ScholarOne on the Journal of Sport Management website. Authors should indicate in their cover letter that the submission is to be considered for the special issue on “Next-Generation Sport Employees: Shaping the Future of Organizational Behavior in Sport”.

Please note: When submitting your manuscript, please ensure to select the 'Special Issue' option within the ScholarOne system. Each author is allowed to submit up to two manuscripts for this special issue, ensuring broader participation and diverse contributions. Editorial team members are limited to one submission, in addition to their authorship of the special issue introduction.

Contact Information for Guest Editors:

Minjung Kim, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor

Department of Kinesiology & Sport Management

Texas A&M University

4243 TAMU

College Station, TX 77843

E-mail: m.kim@tamu.edu

Elizabeth Taylor, Ph.D.

Associate Professor

Department of Sport, Tourism and Hospitality Management (STHM)

Temple University

1810 N. 13th Street

Philadelphia, PA 19122

E-mail: elizabeth.taylor@temple.edu

Marlene A. Dixon, Ph.D.

Professor and Department Head

Department of Kinesiology & Sport Management

Texas A&M University

4243 TAMU

College Station, TX 77843

E-mail: madixon@tamu.edu

Please click the following link for a PDF version of this call.

Last updated: March 14, 2025