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1 – 2 of 2Grazia Lang, Torsten Schlesinger, Markus Lamprecht, Kaisa Ruoranen, Christoffer Klenk, Emmanuel Bayle, Josephine Clausen, David Giauque and Siegfried Nagel
The purpose of this paper is to identify types of professionalization in Swiss national sport federations (NSFs) and analyze organizational characteristics associated with…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to identify types of professionalization in Swiss national sport federations (NSFs) and analyze organizational characteristics associated with specific types of professionalization. Such types reveal common patterns among the increasingly complex organizational designs of NSFs and thus contribute to the understanding of professionalization in NSFs.
Design/methodology/approach
An online survey of all Swiss NSFs was conducted to identify types of professionalization in these organizations using hierarchical cluster analysis, based on a multi-dimensional framework of professionalization.
Findings
The analysis revealed four types of professionalization: formalized NSFs managed by paid staff, NSFs managed by volunteers and a few paid staff off the field, NSFs with differing formalization and paid staff on the field, and moderately formalized NSFs managed by volunteers. The types differ in terms of the NSFs’ organizational characteristics, in particular, size, financial resources, Olympic status, and performance.
Originality/value
Applying factor and cluster analysis is a new approach to analyzing professionalization in NSFs that makes uncovering distinctive organizational patterns among a large number of NSFs possible. These results lay the foundation for understanding the professionalization of NSFs, counseling NSFs on their organizational development, and conducting future research on the design types of sport organizations.
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Yaoying Xu, Chenfang Hao and Mary Ellen Huennekens
The purpose of this study was to investigate the intercultural competence of pre-service special education teacher candidates through the contents of a graduate-level…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study was to investigate the intercultural competence of pre-service special education teacher candidates through the contents of a graduate-level multicultural perspectives course.
Design/methodology/approach
This study used a graduate-level multicultural perspectives course to examine the intercultural competence of special education teacher candidates. A paired-samples t-test of significance was performed to investigate the pre- and post-growth of participants’s cultural sensitivity using the intercultural development inventory (IDI).
Findings
Participants’ intercultural sensitivity mean score suggested that their intercultural competence needs to be improved. The results showed no significant difference in the overall mean developmental scores between pre- and post-tests. However, significant differences were found between the pre- and post-test scores in perceived orientation and acceptance cluster.
Originality/value
A significantly higher perceived score was identified suggesting that participants might overestimate their level of intercultural sensitivity. Different from the existing literature, this study suggested that gender and education level were significant predictors of post-test developmental scores.
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