Intrapreneurship in tennis: Tell me who you are...and I will tell you what your intentions are.

Abstract

Intrapreneurship in sport has a positive effect on the performance and competitiveness of organisations. Intrapreneurs are able to discover new opportunities and exploit them by making use of innovation and risk-taking. However, studies on the antecedents of intrapreneurship intentions of employees in sports organisations are practically non-existent at present. Thus, the aim of this study is to find out the combination of conditions that generate high and low entrepreneurial intentions in employees of tennis centres. For the data collection, a questionnaire composed of previously validated scales was used. The data were analysed using Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) methodology. The results showed four solutions for high intrapreneurship intentions that were able to explain 57% of the cases. The most explanatory solution was the combination of high levels of education*occupying a position of lower responsibility*low levels of satisfaction with recognition*high levels of satisfaction with relationships*high levels of satisfaction with promotion possibilities (consistency: .86; coverage: .35). In addition, the conditions being older, satisfaction with promotion possibilities and occupying positions of less responsibility were present in three of the four solutions. In contrast, for low levels of intrapreneurship intentions, three solutions were found that were able to explain 57% of the cases. The most explanatory solution was the combination of younger age*lower responsibility*high levels of relationship satisfaction (consistency: .84; coverage: .54). The results of this study present important practical implications for facilitating intrapreneurship within tennis centres and improving their competitiveness in the sports industry.