
Fraud vulnerabilities in sport federations : the role of culture, leadership, and control
- Author
- Gema Souvenir (UGent) , Cleo Schyvinck (UGent) , Lisa A. Kihl, Wim Hardyns (UGent) , An Vermeersch (UGent) and Annick Willem (UGent)
- Organization
- Project
- Abstract
- Research questionFraud is a major threat to the integrity of sports. Sport federations play a key role in safeguarding the integrity of their sport thus emphasizing the importance of internally strengthening their practices. However, a lack of research exists in understanding meso-level processes that contribute to organizations vulnerabilities to fraud. Drawing from the Organizational Fraud Triangle (OFT), this research examines the role of culture, leadership, and management controls that aims to provide insights into organizational processes, which contribute to sport federations' vulnerability to fraud.Research methodPrimary (17 semi-structured interviews) and secondary data (archival documents) were collected within five sport federations across three sports in Belgium.Results and FindingsSport federations increasingly act against fraud. Federations engage in (in)direct fraud prevention by addressing matters of transparency and communication. However, federations struggled to address their vulnerability to fraud beyond implementing management controls which mainly target athletes rather than governance processes. Furthermore, despite accepted effective fraud safeguarding practices, existing initiatives were not fully embedded throughout the respective sports' cultures.ImplicationsThis study recommended a broader perspective within anti-fraud narratives, where leadership and culture are cornerstones in developing and embedding preventive fraud measures within sport federations. Likewise, by applying the OFT we introduce a novel perspective to assess fraud vulnerability in sport federations.
- Keywords
- control, leadership, culture, sport, Fraud, ETHICAL LEADERSHIP, ORGANIZATIONAL-CLIMATE, ETHNOGRAPHY, MANAGEMENT, CORRUPTION
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Citation
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication: http://hdl.handle.net/1854/LU-01GZDPJEM86DS5CCDK1S03D473
- MLA
- Souvenir, Gema, et al. “Fraud Vulnerabilities in Sport Federations : The Role of Culture, Leadership, and Control.” EUROPEAN SPORT MANAGEMENT QUARTERLY, vol. 24, no. 3, 2024, pp. 740–63, doi:10.1080/16184742.2023.2189923.
- APA
- Souvenir, G., Schyvinck, C., Kihl, L. A., Hardyns, W., Vermeersch, A., & Willem, A. (2024). Fraud vulnerabilities in sport federations : the role of culture, leadership, and control. EUROPEAN SPORT MANAGEMENT QUARTERLY, 24(3), 740–763. https://doi.org/10.1080/16184742.2023.2189923
- Chicago author-date
- Souvenir, Gema, Cleo Schyvinck, Lisa A. Kihl, Wim Hardyns, An Vermeersch, and Annick Willem. 2024. “Fraud Vulnerabilities in Sport Federations : The Role of Culture, Leadership, and Control.” EUROPEAN SPORT MANAGEMENT QUARTERLY 24 (3): 740–63. https://doi.org/10.1080/16184742.2023.2189923.
- Chicago author-date (all authors)
- Souvenir, Gema, Cleo Schyvinck, Lisa A. Kihl, Wim Hardyns, An Vermeersch, and Annick Willem. 2024. “Fraud Vulnerabilities in Sport Federations : The Role of Culture, Leadership, and Control.” EUROPEAN SPORT MANAGEMENT QUARTERLY 24 (3): 740–763. doi:10.1080/16184742.2023.2189923.
- Vancouver
- 1.Souvenir G, Schyvinck C, Kihl LA, Hardyns W, Vermeersch A, Willem A. Fraud vulnerabilities in sport federations : the role of culture, leadership, and control. EUROPEAN SPORT MANAGEMENT QUARTERLY. 2024;24(3):740–63.
- IEEE
- [1]G. Souvenir, C. Schyvinck, L. A. Kihl, W. Hardyns, A. Vermeersch, and A. Willem, “Fraud vulnerabilities in sport federations : the role of culture, leadership, and control,” EUROPEAN SPORT MANAGEMENT QUARTERLY, vol. 24, no. 3, pp. 740–763, 2024.
@article{01GZDPJEM86DS5CCDK1S03D473, abstract = {{Research questionFraud is a major threat to the integrity of sports. Sport federations play a key role in safeguarding the integrity of their sport thus emphasizing the importance of internally strengthening their practices. However, a lack of research exists in understanding meso-level processes that contribute to organizations vulnerabilities to fraud. Drawing from the Organizational Fraud Triangle (OFT), this research examines the role of culture, leadership, and management controls that aims to provide insights into organizational processes, which contribute to sport federations' vulnerability to fraud.Research methodPrimary (17 semi-structured interviews) and secondary data (archival documents) were collected within five sport federations across three sports in Belgium.Results and FindingsSport federations increasingly act against fraud. Federations engage in (in)direct fraud prevention by addressing matters of transparency and communication. However, federations struggled to address their vulnerability to fraud beyond implementing management controls which mainly target athletes rather than governance processes. Furthermore, despite accepted effective fraud safeguarding practices, existing initiatives were not fully embedded throughout the respective sports' cultures.ImplicationsThis study recommended a broader perspective within anti-fraud narratives, where leadership and culture are cornerstones in developing and embedding preventive fraud measures within sport federations. Likewise, by applying the OFT we introduce a novel perspective to assess fraud vulnerability in sport federations.}}, author = {{Souvenir, Gema and Schyvinck, Cleo and Kihl, Lisa A. and Hardyns, Wim and Vermeersch, An and Willem, Annick}}, issn = {{1618-4742}}, journal = {{EUROPEAN SPORT MANAGEMENT QUARTERLY}}, keywords = {{control,leadership,culture,sport,Fraud,ETHICAL LEADERSHIP,ORGANIZATIONAL-CLIMATE,ETHNOGRAPHY,MANAGEMENT,CORRUPTION}}, language = {{eng}}, number = {{3}}, pages = {{740--763}}, title = {{Fraud vulnerabilities in sport federations : the role of culture, leadership, and control}}, url = {{http://doi.org/10.1080/16184742.2023.2189923}}, volume = {{24}}, year = {{2024}}, }
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