Managerial culture in sports organizations in Venezuela
Summar Alfredo Gómez Barrios
Abstract
The present study aimed to analyze and understand managerial culture in sports organizations in Venezuela, considering its configuration, manifestations, and effects on organizational management from the perspective of actors who performed managerial and executive functions. The research was conducted using a qualitative approach, methodologically grounded in Strauss and Corbin’s Grounded Theory, with a descriptive field research design. Progressive theoretical sampling was applied until theoretical saturation was achieved, resulting in an empirical corpus composed of fifteen (15) key informants from public, private, and university-based sports organizations. Data were collected through in-depth interviews, whose narratives were subjected to systematic open and axial coding processes using the constant comparative method. The analysis led to the emergence of three major analytical categories: Managerial Profile, Characteristics of Organizational Culture, and Conception of Managerial Culture, based on a total of 482 conceptual labels. The findings showed that Characteristics of Organizational Culture accounted for the greatest analytical weight, with 272 labels (56.4%), followed by Managerial Profile with 197 labels (40.9%), and, to a lesser extent, Conception of Managerial Culture with 148 labels (30.7%). These results revealed the centrality of shared cultural patterns over individual managerial attributes. Axial analysis identified significant relationships among leadership, decision-making, organizational values, and informal management practices, as well as recurrent tensions between discourses of professionalization and adaptive practices shaped by the sociopolitical and economic context. It was concluded that managerial culture functioned as a structuring factor in the operation of Venezuelan sports organizations, directly influencing institutional performance, internal cohesion, and organizational sustainability. Furthermore, the study determined that any effort to strengthen sports management requires the explicit incorporation of the cultural dimension into public policies and managerial training and development models.
Keywords
References
Adler, N. J. (1991). International dimensions of organizational behavior (2nd ed.). PWS-Kent Publishing Company. https://doi.org/10.24093/awej/elt1.1
Aguilar, P. y Guerra, W. (2015). Gerencia del deporte de alto rendimiento en Venezuela. Actualidad Contable Faces, 18 (31),5-29.[fecha de Consulta 29 de Diciembre de 2025]. ISSN: 1316-8533. Recuperado de: https://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=25743363002
Aguilar, L. (2014). Gerencia deportiva: fundamentos, enfoques y tendencias contemporáneas. Editorial Panapo.
Aguilar, L. (2017). Gestión y políticas públicas del deporte en América Latina. Editorial Panapo.
Albarrán, E., & Gómez, S. (Comps.). (2022). Ética en las organizaciones del deporte: Apología, perspectiva y reflexiones. Acercamiento al comportamiento social de la gerencia del deporte en Latinoamérica y el Caribe. Centro de Investigación y Estudios del Deporte (CIED).
Alvesson, M. (2002). Understanding organizational culture. SAGE Publications Ltd, https://doi.org/10.4135/9781446280072
Andersen, Svein S.; Ronglan, Lars Tore. (2012). Mismas ambiciones, diferentes caminos: una perspectiva comparativa del deporte de élite nórdico. Managing Leisure, 17(2-3), 155-169. doi:10.1080/13606719.2012.674392
Arias, F. G. (2016). El proyecto de investigación: Introducción a la metodología científica (7.ª ed.). Episteme.
Asamblea Nacional de la República Bolivariana de Venezuela. (2011). Ley Orgánica de Deporte, Actividad Física y Educación Física. Gaceta Oficial de la República Bolivariana de Venezuela.
Chelladurai, P. (2014). Managing Organizations for Sport and Physical Activity: A Systems Perspective (4th ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315213286
Etkin, J., & Schvarstein, L. (1992). Identidad de las organizaciones: Invariancia y cambio. Paidós.
Gadamer, H.-G. (1999). Verdad y método (Vol. I, 8.ª ed.). Ediciones Sígueme. (Trabajo original publicado en 1960)
Granell, E. (1997). Cultura organizacional y gerencia. Ediciones IESA.
Gómez, S. (2024). Cultura gerencial en las organizaciones del deporte en Venezuela. Editorial Universitaria [ISBN 978-9942-7046-2-7].
Martin, J. (2002). Organizational culture: Mapping the terrain. Sage Publications.
Pearson, D.W., Hallmann, K., & Zhang, J.J. (Eds.). (2025). Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the Global Sport Community (1st ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003621942
Sebastián, J. (2013). Políticas públicas y gestión del deporte en América Latina. CLACSO.
Siehl, C., & Martin, J. (1988). Measuring organizational culture: Mixing qualitative and quantitative methods. In J. Martin (Ed.), Organizational culture: Mapping the terrain (pp. 79–104). Sage Publications.
Strauss, A., & Corbin, J. (2002). Bases de la investigación cualitativa: Técnicas y procedimientos para desarrollar la teoría fundamentada (2.ª ed.). Editorial Universidad de Antioquia.
Submitted date:
12/17/2025
Accepted date:
03/15/2026
