International Journal of Sport Management

Expanding the Landscape of Commitment Research in Sport Management: A Case
 for Multi-Foci Commitment Research

J. Michael Martinez, Molly Harry, Mandy Barefoot

Commitment research in sport management has been a focal point of organizational behavior for quite some time. From an employee perspective, these targets of commitment have generally been aimed toward the organization or career. This present commentary argues that while organizational/occupational commitment focus has been on singular or dual targets mentioned above, there is a growing body of literature that suggests commitments are more inline as part of an overall commitment system or incorporate multiple foci of those commitments. These multiple foci, however, has been relatively under-explored within sport management literature. Thus, the main objective of this paper is to build a case for expanding on the current landscape of commitment-related research in sport management, specifically introducing multi-foci commitment and commitment systems theory and how this can be applied in sport management.

Keywords: organizational commitment, career commitment, sport commitment

Citation: Martinez, J. M., Harry, M., & Barefoot, M. (2025). Expanding the landscape of commitment research in sport management: A case 
for multi-foci commitment research. International Journal of Sport Management, 26(2), 231-241.

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