Organizational Capacity and Performance of Community Sport Clubs

Using a multidimensional framework, the authors developed the Community Sport Capacity Scale to measure the key elements of capacity in community sport organizations or clubs and investigate their relative impact on three key indicators of club performance. Presidents or their representatives from 336 community sport organizations in 20 sports across the province of Ontario, Canada, completed the web-based survey measuring the extent of various elements of human resources, infrastructure, finance, planning, and external relationships capacity. The survey also measured club operations, programs, and community presence, identified as key performance outcomes. Controlling for club size, elements representing all five capacity dimensions were significantly associated with the outcomes. The findings highlight the rich information that may be generated from a multidimensional and context-specific perspective on organizational capacity, and indicate implications for building capacity in community sport organizations.