SPORT DEVELOPMENT IN KUWAIT: PERCEPTION OF STAKEHOLDERS ON THE SIGNIFICANCE AND DELIVERY OF SPORT DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for The Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School at The Ohio State University By Badi Aldousari, M.A. * * * * * 2004 Dissertation Committee: Approved by Dr. Packianathan Chelladurai, Advisor Dr. Donna Pastore __________________________ Advisor Dr. Janet Fink College of Education ABSTRACT The current study analyzed the perceptions of 402 stakeholders of Kuwaiti sport regarding the importance of three domains of sport (i.e., mass sport, elite sport, and commercial sport), and the relative emphases to be placed on each of these domains. The respondents were also asked to indicate the organizational forms (public, nonprofit, profit, public-nonprofit combine, and public-profit combine) best suited to deliver related sport services in the country. The stakeholder groups were administrators of federations (n = 57), administrators of clubs (n = 80), administrators of youth centers (n = 50), coaches of clubs (n = 78), coaches of youth centers (n = 57), and elite athletes (n = 70). The gender distribution of the respondents was 355 males and 47 females. They ranged in age from 19 years to 70 years for a mean of 39 years. The statistical procedures included exploratory principal component analysis, computation of Cronbach’s alpha, multivariate analyses of variance (MANOVA) followed by univariate analyses (ANOVA), and chi square analyses. The results provided support for the subscale structure of survey instrument modified from Cuellar (2003). Further analyses indicated that the six groups were almost unanimous in considering elite sport as more critical than the other two domains of sport. However, when forced to allocate relative emphases to be placed on the three domains, the respondents expressed that greater emphases should be placed on mass sport than on either elite sport or commercial sport. The respondents also chose the Public organizations and the Public-Nonprofit Combines as the most suitable to deliver most of the sport related services. Participants favored the Profit organizations in partnership with ii Public organizations to build and maintain sport facilities for Elite Sport. These results were interpreted as manifestations of Islamic and Arabic traditions which favored mass sport. Further, the choice of the Public organizations in combination with Nonprofit organizations to deliver most of the services was seen as a reflection of the current practice of Public organizations providing almost all sport related services. iv Dedicated to my family father, mother, siblings, and my sons. iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to express my sincere appreciation to my advisor, Professor Packianathan Chelladurai for his support and advice not only throughout this research but also through the years. I am also thankful to my dissertation committee members Dr. Donna Pastore and Dr. Janet Fink who have contributed to my academic, professional and personal development. A very special thank you is sent to my family members and friends who have continued to support and pray for my success. Finally I would like to express sincere thanks to all the Kuwaiti participants in this study. v VITA April 14, 1963 ……………………………………….. Born: Al-Mangaf, Kuwait June, 1998 ……………………………………...…….. B.S. in Physical Education PAAET, Kuwait City December, 2000 …………………………………….... M.A., Ball State University Muncie, Indiana 1988-1998 …………………………………………… Physical Education Department Chairman. Othman Ben Affan School August, 1986 ………………………………………… World University Championship, Osaka, Japan 1979-1994 …………………………………………… Soccer Player Alsaheel Club, Algadsyiah Club, Alfhaheel Club February, 1991 ……………………………………… Participated in Desert Storm, Kuwait Major Field of Study: • College of Education • School of Physical Activity and Educational Services • Sport and Exercise Management vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ABSTRACT……………………………………………………………………. ii DEDICATION ………………………………………………………………… iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS……………………………………………………… v VITA…………………………………………………………………………… vii LIST OF TABLES……………………………………………………………… xi LIST OF FIGURES ……………………………………………………………. xiii Chapters: 1. INTRODUCTION……………………………………………………………. 1 Sport in Kuwait………………………………………………………….…... 2 Administration of sport in Kuwait…………………………………........... 4 The Establishment of Clubs and Youth Centers………………………….. 5 Participation in foreign championships……………………………............6 Organizational structure…………………………………………………........ 7 The Public Authority for youth and sport…………………………............ 8 Developing relations with the youth of the world…………………............9 Issues in Kuwaiti Sport……………………………………………………... 11 Vision of sport in Kuwait………………………………………………........ 13 Role of sport in society……………………………………………………... 14 Statement of the problem………………………………………………........ 19 Research questions………………………………………………………….. 19 Limitation of the study……………………………………………………… 19 Definition of terms…………………………………………………….......... 20 2. INTRODUCTION…………………………………………………………... 22 Historical development of Sport in Kuwait……………………………........ 22 Pre-Independence sport (1930-1960)…………………………………… 23 Post-Independence sport (1961-1990)……………………………........... 28 vii Current organizational structure of sport in Kuwait……………………................. 37 Ministry of social affairs and labor…………………………………………. 39 Public authority for youth and sport……………………………………...40 Sport administration structure………………………………………………. 44 Sport federations………………………………………………………… 44 Sport clubs………………………………………………………………..47 Kuwait Olympic committee………………………………………........... 49 Youth center………………………………………………………........... 54 Sport club for disabled……………………………………………........... 55 Special structure relevant to sport……………………………………….. 57 Assessment of organizational structures or forms…………………………... 58 Ideological objectives and organizational strategy……………………… 59 Culture and organizational governance…………………………………..65 The need for change in Kuwaiti Sport……………………………........... 66 Recruitment of sport leaders in Kuwait…………………………………. 69 Types of voluntary sport associations……………………………………. 70 Need for government, volunteer and private sector partnership…............ 72 3. METHODOLOGY………………………………………………………….. 75 Research design…………………………………………………………….. 75 Sample characteristics and sample size…………………………………….. 75 Instrument…………………………………………………………………... 77 Criticalness of functions of sport……………………………………….. 77 Relative emphases on domains of sport………………………………… 78 Suitability of organizational forms………………………………........... 78 Data collections procedures…………………………………………………. 78 Validity of instrument……………………………………………………….. 79 Back translation procedures…………………………………………….. 80 Data analyses…………………………………………………………………81 Scale verification………………………………………………………...81 Subgroups differences…………………………………………………... 82 4. RESULTS…………………………………………………………………… 84 Verification of the subscales………………………………………………… 84 Mass sport………………………………………………………………. 84 Elite sport……………………………………………………………….. 86 Commercial sport……………………………………………….………. 87 Correlation among the subscales……………………………………….. 88 Sub group differences………………………………………………….......... 89 Criticalness of sport functions………………………………………….. 89 Relative emphases on the domain of sport………………………………91 Correlation of criticalness and relative emphases………………............. 92 Suitability of organizational forms……………………………………... 92 viii 5. DISCUSSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS…………………………….. 99 Discussion…………………………………………………………………... 99 Subscale Structure………………………………………………………. 99 Subgroups Differences………………………………………………… 101 Suitability of Organizational forms…………………………..............105 Summary and Recommendation…………………………………………...109 Summary……………………………………………………………… 109 Recommendation……………………………………………………… 110 LIST OF REFERENCES………………………………………………………... 112 APPENDICES…………………………………………………………………… • Appendix A: Sports Clubs……………………………………………….. 116 • Appendix B: Sports Association/Federations……………………………. 117 • Appendix C: Youth centers in Kuwait………………………………….... 118 • Appendix D: Women Centers in Kuwait………………………………… 119 • Appendix E: Public Parks………………………………………………... 120 • Appendix F : Questionnaire (English)…………………………………… 121 • Appendix G: Questionnaire (Arabic)…………………………………….. 127 ix LIST OF TABLES Table Page 2.1 Kuwaiti Youth Centers ……………………………………………………. 55 3.1 Population, Samples, and Response Rates………………………………… 76 4.1 Factor loading for Mass Sport by Groups…………………………………. 85 4.2 Factor loading for Elite Sport by Groups………………………………….. 86 4.3 Factor loading for Commercial Sport by Groups………………………….. 87 4.4 Correlations………………………………………………………………... 88 4.5 Results of Univariate Analyses of Criticalness and Relative Emphasis of Sport Domains…………………………………….... 89 4.6 Groups, Means and Standard Deviations…………………………………... 90 4.7 Significance of Differences on the Domains of Sport……………………... 91 4.8 Chi Square for Mass Sport Organizational Forms and Services…………... 94 4.9 Chi Square for Elite Sport Organizational Forms and Services…………… 96 4.10 Chi Square for Commercial Sport Organizational Forms and Services…… 98 x LIST OF FIGURES Figure Page 1. The Organizational Structure of Sport in Kuwait……………………………… 38 2. A Structural design model of the Classification of stakeholders of sport and the important issues of change in the organizational structure of sport……………………………………………………………….. 59 3. Conceptual framework of sport delivery and infrastructure of the National Sport Development Index (NSDI)………………………………... 63 xi CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION The state of