Athletes as entrepreneurs: the role of social capital and leadership ability

The role of athletes as entrepreneurs is an under-explored area of the entrepreneurship and sport management literature. The purpose of this paper is to provide a theoretical and conceptual understanding of athletes as entrepreneurs by utilising human capital in the form of social, emotional and leadership abilities. The paper extends the current literature on sport entrepreneurship by combining leadership theory with the literature on sport management and entrepreneurial dynamics to understand the complexity of athletes as entrepreneurs. This paper offers a new understanding of athletes as entrepreneurs by bridging the gap between social capital theory, psychology theory and sport entrepreneurship theory.