Managing Community Sport Organisations in Favelas During Crisis: Impacts on Community Resilience

The aim of this study was to explore and describe how a recent public health emergency affected the management of community sport organisations (CSOs) in favelas and how the crisis management strategy shaped community resilience. We relied upon the stakeholder theory of crisis management, which posits that during crises, organisations should adopt management practices that address the needs of multiple stakeholders rather than merely focusing on organisational survival. We conducted 13 interviews with sport managers of CSOs located in favelas in four different regions of the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The findings show that managers respond to the crisis by focusing on community support and resilience. Three factors informed the relationship between management practices and community resilience: sense of leadership and responsibility, filling the gaps of the public sector, and equality, diversity, and inclusion practices. Our study extends the application of stakeholder theory of crisis management to suggest the importance of considering the inclusion of stakeholders (e.g., government, sport managers) who have been ignored in the proposition of the theory and in the sport management literature. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.