Using sport for corporate social responsibility (CSR) in Finland

Abstract

Companies are increasingly valued beyond their capability to maximize profits. Responsibility is one of the core issues in companies’ strategies nowadays. Meanwhile sport and health professionals are facing challenges: inactivity among people and costs in grassroots participation are growing. Therefore, the relationship between sport and business around the phenomenon called corporate social responsibility (CSR) has grown in importance.

This study approaches the topic by answering the main research question: What is the role of sport in Finnish companies’ CSR strategy? To answer the research questions, qualitative research using data from structured e-mail interviews was conducted. The data consists of interviews with five preselected Finnish companies. The empirical study conducted between fall 2014 and spring 2015 was analyzed with the method of content analysis.

Based on this study, companies perceive CSR as the balance of three dimensions: economic, environmental and social responsibilities. Several social responsibilities related to sport were identified: enabling sport participation and securing the integrity of sport among others. Companies prioritized sport-based efforts towards children and youth. In practice, CSR through sport is done via partnerships and sponsorship. Concrete ways for implementation such as planning facilities and organizing a youth academy were found. Surprisingly, majority of the companies lacked systematic evaluation for sport-based CSR efforts and there was only little experience of negative outcomes around this phenomenon.

With the help of these findings, companies can make better and more innovative CSR decisions that ideally lead to beneficial results towards all stakeholders. Simultaneously, sport professionals can benefit from the study by integrating CSR more actively into their model of co-operation when seeking for funding and other resources. Expanding sport-based CSR efforts also towards target groups such as pensioners, immigrants or working people might generate wellbeing that the whole society would benefit from.