Digitalization in organized sport – usage of digital instruments in voluntary sports clubs depending on club's goals and organizational capacity

Purpose: The intention of this paper is to identify the scope and purpose of the use of digital tools in voluntary sports clubs (VSCs) and to identify club-specific factors that influence their usage behavior. Design/methodology/approach: An online survey was conducted among VSCs in Austria and in Germany (n = 787). To answer the key questions, patterns of digital use in VSCs were analyzed in relation to the overall organizational goals and organizational capacity. In addition to the description of the clubs' usage behavior patterns, a multiple linear regression model (blockwise) and quantile regression models were estimated. Findings: The descriptive results show that digital instruments are most used in the areas of “internal/external communication” (93.7%) and “to report membership data to federations” (82.1%). The OLS and quantile regression models indicate that user behavior is primarily influenced by the following factors: the goals of “commitment/success in competitive sports” and “cooperation with other institutions”; the organizational factors “digital processes do not fit with our club culture”, “proportion of volunteers with administrative tasks”, “we do not yet have a clear digitalization strategy for our club” and “lack of financial resources for necessary IT investments”. Originality/value: Digital technologies appear to be promising for organizational development in VSCs. However, what the usage behavior of digital instruments in VSCs currently is, and by which factors this usage is influenced, has not been the focus of empirical analysis yet. The study provides initial insights into the understanding of digitalization in VSCs that can be used for consulting and ongoing research.