A content analysis of the academic literature in sport management was conducted using 21 English-language refereed journals, to examine the scope and depth of research on environmental sustainability.
Interestingly, only 17 of the 4,639 articles reviewed directly addressed environmental sustainability. Six of the articles were published before 2000, and the other 11 articles were published between 2000 and 2008. All 17 studies were qualitative.
The main theme of the work was environmental management performance, and introductions to environmental performance which covered definitions of environmental sustainability, policy, organizational systems, programs, philosophies, and sport implications.
In addition to the 17 articles found in sport literature, a separate content analysis was conducted using 17 separate articles sourced from non-sport journals. The results were similar: most articles published on sport sustainability focused on environmental management performance.
CITE: Mallen, C., Stevens, J., & Adams, L. J. (2011). A content analysis of environmental sustainability research in a sport-related journal sample. Journal of Sport Management, 25(3), 240–256.
