Peer-reviewed article
Changing organizational culture in community sport: a systematic review.
Woodforde J, Thomas G, Harrison Z, Mulcahy S, Townsend S et al. ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This systematic review examines how community sports organizations attempt to change their organizational culture to improve social inclusion and wellbeing. The review found 12 studies evaluating culture change efforts, mostly small qualitative studies focused on safety, inclusion, and coach conduct. The evidence suggests that deliberate, multi-level approaches combining individual learning with organizational change and external support can produce positive shifts, but the research base remains small and context-specific.
Key points
- Only 12 studies met inclusion criteria for evaluating intentional culture change in community sport organizations
- Most included studies were qualitative, small-scale, and context-specific
- Culture change efforts focused on three areas: integrity and safety, inclusion and diversity for marginalized groups, and adult conduct in youth sport
- Multi-level culture change efforts combining individual learning, organizational-level change, and sustained external support showed promise for positive outcomes
- The field lacks longitudinal evaluation designs, clear definitions of culture change, and theoretically grounded comparable frameworks
Limitations
This review does not evaluate outcomes for specific child populations or measure direct impacts on child well-being; it focuses on organizational culture change processes in sports settings rather than documented effects on children's health, development, or protection outcomes. The review acknowledges the evidence base is nascent and heterogeneous, limiting what can be concluded about effectiveness.
Abstract
Introduction Community sport organizations - encompassing grassroots, recreational, amateur and voluntary clubs and settings distinct from elite or professional sport - are increasingly positioned as sites for advancing social inclusion, health and wellbeing, yet the role of organizational culture in enabling or constraining these outcomes is not fully understood. While policy and practice increasingly call for culture change in community sport, the extent to which such efforts have been empirically evaluated remains unknown. Methods A systematic review was conducted across five databases (PubMed, SPORTDiscus, PsycINFO, Web of Science, Scopus) from inception to June 2025. Studies were included if they evaluated an intentional strategy described as aiming to change culture in community sport settings and reported participant- or organizational-level outcomes. During title/abstract screening by reviewers, records were prioritized using machine-learning algorithms to rank relevance. Study quality was appraised using the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool. Results Twelve studies met inclusion criteria. Most were qualitative, small-scale, and context-specific. Culture change efforts clustered thematically around: (i) integrity and safety cultures, (ii) inclusion and diversity for marginalized groups, and (iii) adult conduct in youth sport settings and coach development. While the evidence base meeting our criteria is nascent and heterogeneous, precluding quantitative synthesis, findings suggest that deliberate, multi-level culture change efforts can produce positive shifts in attitudes, behaviors and club practices, particularly when initiatives combine individual learning with organizational-level change and sustained external support. Discussion Culture change in community sport settings is complex, uneven and often gradual, influenced by entrenched traditions and resourcing constraints. Future efforts should prioritize longitudinal evaluation designs, clearer conceptual and operational definitions of culture change, and theoretically grounded frameworks that can be compared across contexts.