Bridging the Gap: U.S. Sport Managers on Barriers to Industry – Academia Research Collaboration

Abstract

Collaboration between industry and academia is a subject of great interest to sport management academics and sport industry leaders in the United States. However, there is a lack of research regarding barriers to sport industry-academia collaborations and bridging the gap between sport management research and practitioners. The aim of the study was to explore trends in collaboration barriers among various research involvement levels of United States sport firms with sport management academia. Data were gathered from 303 sport managers working for United States sport companies. Results indicated several barriers for research collaborations between the United States sport industry and academia. Such barriers include transactional barriers, sport industry sub-sectors, sport organizations’ location, and age and education level of respondents.

Keywords: United States; sport industry; academia; cooperation obstacles; research contributions; sport business; business schools; accreditation; higher education administration; research impact

JEL Classification: M00, M1, M2, M5