Preserving the legacy – Why do professional soccer clubs (not) adopt innovative process technologies? A grounded theory study

Ralf Plattfaut and Julian Koch

Journal of Business Research, 2021, vol. 136, issue C, 237-250

Abstract: Technologies such as Robotic Process Automation or Artificial Intelligence are becoming increasingly recognized as essential elements and engines of digital transformation in businesses today. However, especially in the professional sports industry, the adoption of these technologies appears to be lagging behind. This paper aims to provide a deeper perspective and understanding of the drivers and inhibitors of the adoption and use of innovative process technologies in professional sports. To this end, we conducted a grounded theory study of data collected from two German professional soccer clubs: one from the first league (Bundesliga) and one from the third league (3. Liga). Our study shows that adoption depends upon expected efficiency and effectiveness gains, perceived ease of use, perceived (positive) market pull, and perceived (negative) supporter perception. While the first three constructs are well-known in the technology acceptance literature, the latter two are comparably new in this research stream. Therefore, we discuss especially the impact of perceived positive market pull (i.e., a pull from clubs’ sponsors and competition) and perceived negative supporter perception (i.e., the fear that customers might lose loyalty due to increasing process digitalization) on the adoption and use of innovative process technologies in professional sports.

Keywords: Innovative process technologies; Artificial intelligence; Cognitive automation; Robotic process automation; Sports; Soccer (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jbrese:v:136:y:2021:i:c:p:237-250

DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2021.07.024

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