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The purpose of this paper is to provide practical and future research implications for the field of governance and corporate social responsibility (CSR) in sports to strengthen the depth of knowledge in this area.

This paper reviews parts of the existing international literature and draws on literature from general business, management and governance to widen the scope and open spaces of opportunities for interested researchers.

The authors find six themes that are of particular relevance and cluster them along context, content and process to map out critical and promising aspects that we believe will progress our understanding of and contribution to CSR and governance in sport: features and idiosyncrasies of sport in relation to governance and CSR; the relevance and impact of regional and cultural context; reflections on “content” of CSR in sport in difference to CSR through sport; the quest for the business case for CSR in sport and consumer reactions; the potential for interdisciplinary, multilevel and longitudinal research; and finding a critical voice and relating research (back) to industry and practice.

The paper reviews and interlinks the topic of CSR and governance in sport in new ways and with an established, wider body of knowledge, and provides new inspiration and starting points for research from both a broader management angle and a sport-specific angle.

This paper aims to advance a critical analysis of corporate social responsibility (CSR) within sport. First, the author locates CSR within the wider field of sport-related social activities. Second, the author identifies key issues that confront CSR in sport. Third, while referring to papers elsewhere in this issue of the journal, the author sets out future possibilities for the pursuit of CSR within sport with regards to its technical, dialogical and critical dimensions.

The approach taken here is a critical one, advocating CSR work and research which identifies strengths and limitations in, and explores future arrangements for, the CSR sector.

The paper finds that the CSR sector in sport should pursue a dialogical and critical practice within and through its work.

The originality and value of the paper lie in how the paper advances critical understanding of CSR in sport.

This paper aims to highlight how critical theory and political CSR might be applied to deepen our examination of the complexities associated with ‘sport CSR’. The debate on the use of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in the sports industry is starting to move beyond “mapping the territory”, which characterized the initial examination of this new direction in CSR. This viewpoint suggests that it is time for “sport CSR” to turn to a range of CSR perspectives found in mainstream management debates as they are under-applied at the moment.

This paper examines the current state of research in sport CSR and offers a discussion on the possible ways to apply two under-utilised mainstream perspectives – political CSR and critical CSR – to sport CSR.

A review of literature highlights how sport CSR has tended to pay insufficient attention to the maladies, dilemmas and broader structural concerns and political ramifications associated with sport CSR. This means that other viewpoints noted and applied in this journal, such as “critical CSR” and political CSR are largely neglected.

The value of this article lies in highlighting how critical theory and political CSR might be applied to deepen our examination of the complexities associated with “sport CSR”.

The purpose of this conceptual paper is to introduce a new governance model based on collaborative co-creation of value that leads to the strategic integration of football clubs and their community trusts. This paper also introduces a new process framework that can be instrumental to practitioners and can be operationalised by researchers.

The paper is underpinned by social strategy literature, the service-dominant (S-D) logic framework of value co-creation, stakeholder thinking and the creating shared value (CSV) framework. The process framework is based on the P.A.S.C.A.L. (perception, analysis, synthesis, choice, action and learning) decision-making process introduced by Goodpaster (1991).

Although the evidence that we have presented shows that some clubs are already applying some of the strategies that are part of our process framework, the paper highlights further opportunities particularly for clubs with less-developed social schemes.

This paper is a conceptual paper based on an ongoing multi-case study of four English Premier League clubs. The evidence we introduce is to bring our proposed process framework to life. As implications for future research, the process framework can be tested empirically. Future studies might also focus on how the international footprint of the community trusts influences their strategic integration with the rest of the club. Lastly, the leader plus team might be used as a new unit of analysis in future research.

This conceptual paper can mitigate the separation fallacy that decouples social schemes from football and commercial objectives. Our process framework illustrates how stakeholder relationships are governed and lead to value creation. The strategies within the CSV framework are a roadmap for expanding social and economic value co-creation.

Our process framework for collaborative value co-creation can guide practitioners on how to develop and implement their social strategies.

The originality of this paper is in the application of the S-D logic and the CSV framework to social strategies in football clubs and the introduction of a process framework that may be operationalised by researchers and applied by practitioners as they develop and implement their social strategies.

The purpose of this paper is to advance the understanding of how corporate social responsibility (CSR) develops within professional football clubs, along with its organizational implications, phases, drivers and barriers for corporate governance, given that professional football organizations have become particularly strong socio-political business institutions, often home to numerous social and business relationships. Additionally it aims to consider CSR development generally drawing specifically on examples from Scottish professional football while answering two key research questions: what kind of drivers do clubs identify as reasons to develop CSR? and Can developmental phases be identified during this process?

The paper builds on a qualitative case study methodology that draws on primary and secondary data collected across 12 Scottish Premier League (SPL) football clubs. Three stages of data collection were set out including interviews, Web content analysis and annual/CSR reports analysis.

This research highlights internal and external drivers of change in Scottish football clubs along with institutional barriers and organizational (developmental) phases of CSR and corporate governance.

This research is limited on the CSR development across the 12 SPL clubs.

The paper is the first to consider CSR in professional football clubs from a developmental point of view. Six phases of CSR development are identified and defined – volunteering, regulation, socialization, corporatization, separation and integration – and implications for football and general corporate governance are presented.

The purpose of this paper is to clearly outline the practicalities of designing and implementing corporate social responsibility (CSR) through sport programmes via stakeholder involvement theory by an international governing body operating across Europe’s multicultural setting. The concept of CSR and the use of sport to achieve the objectives of CSR have become common buzzwords. Within CSR, most of the academic literature, or research, has focused on defining or framing CSR through sport particularly discussing the implementation or staging of CSR activities by both sporting and non-sporting organisations. However, not much has been done regarding the practicalities of designing CSR programmes by employing stakeholder involvement theory and conducting of a thorough needs analysis before programme deployment.

This explorative study is based on participatory action research informed by international sport-for-development experiences. A qualitative approach was adopted in assessing the application of stakeholder involvement theory (Morsing and Schultz, 2006) in programme design and assessment of the target group’s needs.

The old CSR approach was fragmented and lacked integration into local area needs. The new CSR approach ensures that community needs are reflected in CSR activities. The delivery of CSR by Euroleague Basketball professional clubs secures a licence to operate through joined-up approaches with mainstream partner agencies. These social partnerships instil a sense of community ownership of One Team Basketball projects.

This paper draws on lessons learnt from international sport-for-development sector where stakeholder involvement is vital for deploying development-through-sport initiatives. The paper addresses aspects which constitute sustainable developmental approaches in communities using sport CSR as a vehicle for change.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the question: how does socially responsible buying/sourcing applies to human talent? The authors examine this question in the unique context of Major League Baseball’s (MLB) relationship with the “buscones” (agents) representing prospects from the Dominican Republic.

Using game theory, the authors model how MLB teams create rules to curb unethical behavior within the supply chain. The principal relationship the authors will model is that of the franchises and the prospects. This relationship has as its core an investment decision by the individual franchises: should they incur costs to ameliorate the context in which the prospects find themselves, or not? The costs of investment, whether it is in academies, general education, a revision of recruiting policies or something else, must be weighed against the negative externalities that are likely to result if the exploitation of the DR recruits becomes common knowledge to other stakeholders, particularly the public.

The model shows that when investments are roughly evenly distributed, the teams successfully vote to outlaw unethical behaviors and thus collectively avoid the negative externalities. However, when investments are asymmetric, the teams invested in the current system vote against a ban to maintain a competitive edge, even though the system imposes costs on all of those involved.

This paper serves as the initial paper that examines international sourcing, social responsibility and baseball. As international sport clubs/franchises continue to source athletic talent from around the globe, the issues discussed in the paper are both original and pertinent.