Bachelor thesis Spring 2014 Section for health and society Bachelor of Science in Business Administration International Business Kick off in the Scandinavian soccer leagues Authors Daniel Nilsson Martin Kristensen Supervisor Timurs Umans Examiner Christer Ekelund Abstract This study emphasizes on the Scandinavian soccer leagues team performance and what shapes it. This has been a widely discussed area where previous researchers have focused on factors such as organizational structure, organizational strategy, team level and individual level. The study takes this field to a new level with a combination of these factors in order to conceptualize team performance on a new level. The purpose with this study is to explain how organizational strategy, structure, team level and individual level factors affect team performance, in the Scandinavian elite soccer leagues. In order to investigate this phenomenon we have used a deductive approach. Further, this study emphasizes a quantitative approach where the data has been collected through a document analysis. In this study the findings indicates that the variables that has been chosen are highly correlated to team performance. However, due to the short time frame this study has fostered, it has been hard to generalize how the variables affect team performance. The limitations are that the study´s findings are only based on a two year span, which makes it hard to generalize the results. However, it is clear that the chosen variables have a significant impact on team performance in Scandinavian soccer leagues. The original value of this thesis is a new conceptualization on team performance within the soccer industry. Key words: Team performance, organizational, structure, strategy, team level, individual level, organizational outcome, Scandinavian soccer league. Acknowledgements Firstly, we would like to thank Timurs Umans for his hard and dedicated work to guide us in the right directions when we were lost. The supervision has been crucial for us when trying to pursuit our goals with this thesis. Thank you very much for your dedication and help Mr, Timurs Umans. Secondly, we would like to thank Annika Fjelkner for helping us with the linguistics. Thirdly, a special thanks to Robin Lundgren at HIF who helped us with a creative idea for the thesis and a supportive function through the dissertations process. And finally, on a personal level, we would like to thank our families who stood out with us when we terrorized them with our dissertation talk. Thank you very much. May 2014 Martin Kristensen Daniel Nilsson Table of content 1. Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 8 1.1 Background .................................................................................................................. 8 1.2 Problematization ............................................................................................................... 9 1.3 Research question ........................................................................................................... 13 1.4 Purpose ........................................................................................................................... 13 1.5 Limitations ...................................................................................................................... 13 1.6 Key concept .................................................................................................................... 13 1.7 Introduction to Scandinavian soccer ............................................................................... 14 2. Method ................................................................................................................................. 15 2.1 Research philosophy ....................................................................................................... 16 2.2 Research approach .......................................................................................................... 17 2.3 Choice of theory ............................................................................................................. 18 2.4 Choice of methodology .................................................................................................. 18 3. Literature review .................................................................................................................. 19 3.1 Factors influencing team performance ........................................................................... 19 3.2 Organizational strategy ................................................................................................... 20 3.3 Organizational structure ................................................................................................. 24 3.4 Team level ...................................................................................................................... 27 3.5 Individual level ............................................................................................................... 29 3.6 List of hypotheses ........................................................................................................... 31 4. Empirical method ................................................................................................................. 32 4.1 Research design and strategy .......................................................................................... 32 4.2 Population ....................................................................................................................... 33 4.3 Data collection ................................................................................................................ 33 4.4 Operationalization .......................................................................................................... 34 4.4.1 Dependent variables .................................................................................................... 35 4.4.1.1 Placement ......................................................................................................... 35 4.4.1.2 Goal difference ................................................................................................. 35 4.4.2 Independent variables .................................................................................................. 35 4.4.2.1 Personnel salary ................................................................................................ 35 4.4.2.2 Solvency ........................................................................................................... 35 4.4.2.3 International experience, head coach ............................................................... 36 4.4.2.4 Domestic head coach ........................................................................................ 36 4.4.2.5 Head coach experience ..................................................................................... 36 4.4.2.6 International experience, team ......................................................................... 36 4.4.2.7 Ethnicity, team ................................................................................................. 36 4.4.2.8 Team experience .............................................................................................. 36 4.4.2.10 Goaltenders ..................................................................................................... 37 4.4.2.11 Defenders ....................................................................................................... 37 4.4.2.12 Midfielders ..................................................................................................... 37 4.4.2.13 Strikers ........................................................................................................... 37 4.4.3 Control variable ........................................................................................................... 37 4.4.3.1 Number of players ............................................................................................ 37 4.5 Data analysis ................................................................................................................... 38 4.6 Reliability ....................................................................................................................... 38 4.7 Validity ........................................................................................................................... 38 4.8 Generalizability .............................................................................................................. 39 4.9 Ethical considerations ..................................................................................................... 39 5. Analysis ................................................................................................................................ 40 5.1 Descriptive statistics ....................................................................................................... 40 5.1.1 Population ............................................................................................................ 43 5.2 Correlation matrix ........................................................................................................... 44 Sida 5 5.2.1 Pearson correlation matrix 2011 ......................................................................... 46 5.2.2 Pearson correlation matrix 2012 ........................................................................