The relationship between inter-organisational citizenship behaviour and innovation within sport clusters - a cross-cultural approach

The focus of this research is on the relationship between inter-organisational citizenship behaviour (ICB) and innovation within sport clusters. ICB is defined as discretionary and voluntary behaviour of organisations within a cluster that is not formally rewarded but promotes the functioning of the cluster. The innovation of sport through sport equipment, hence product innovation, is subject of this research. Sport clusters are geographic concentrations of interconnected organisations that have an interest in a particular sport as buyer or seller of related services or products. Four clusters are analysed contrasting two different locations, France and Australasia, and two sports of different maturity and level of organisation, sailing and surfing. This research considers the relevance of culture in sport management research by taking a comparative approach across two different cultures. In the first stage qualitative data is collected to map out clusters and their inter-organisational relationships. In the second step multivariate analysis is applied to investigate how much ICB (independent variable) influences product innovation (dependent variable) in those relationships. This research aims at improving the innovativeness of sport clusters and its organisations. Overall, the results are expected to create a better understanding of clusters, their organisations, relationships, and interactions. The objective is to disclose benefits of clusters as industrial structure with regards to innovation. The authors' intention is furthermore to interpret the results in a wider context, such as other sports or consumer goods markets with similar characteristics, and countries and locations with similar conditions.