An organizational change perspective on the incorporation of parkour in a gymnastics federation

Over the last decades, sport federations have been confronted with
new variants of sports, such as parkour. Parkour is considered a lifestyle
sports which embraces a specific culture that often conflicts with the
culture of federation-organized sport (Sterchele and Ferrero Camoletto
2017). Participation in lifestyle sports is increasing rapidly, which may
pose a threat to the market position of federations regarding leisure
sports (Gilchrist and Wheaton 2011). Despite the studies emphasizing
the dichotomous relation between sport federations and lifestyle
sports, our study explores why and how both can reconcile. In particular,
our study examined how and why readiness for change was achieved
in the gymnastic federation as well as in the parkour community for
integrating parkour into the federation. Applying a single-case study
design, drawing on Oakland and Tanner (2007) change framework, our
study revealed several key mechanisms to develop a lifestyle sport in a
federation context. Organizational learning proved to be an essential
determinant to overcome the cultural differences. Furthermore, our
results emphasized the importance of leveraging behavioural and technical
leadership in the change process. This study enhances sport managers’
knowledge on how they should approach lifestyle sport
communities, while delivering insights to lifestyle sport communities
on the intentions of federations regarding their sport.