Understanding social sustainability indicators: A systematic literature review towards developing a framework for staging future mega sport events
Molderez, Ingrid Eyckmans, Johan
Molderez, Ingrid
Eyckmans, Johan
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2024
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Abstract
Using the systematic literature review, based on the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) method, we analyzed 40 peer reviewed articles between 2018 and 2023 retrieved from two established academic databases: EBSCO (Business Source Ultimate) and Web of Science. To validate the findings of the literature review, we did a document analysis, using Nvivo 14, of the Candidature Files of the Olympic Games in Paris 2024. Through this technique, we could systematically review and interpret the information embedded in the Candidature Files (Kutsyuruba, 2023). The goal was to extract meaningful data and understand the perspectives of the Paris 2024 organizers on Social Sustainability, building on the insights gained from our literature review, verifying or falsifying the literature outcomes, and to advance theory building of the Social Sustainability concept. Results and Findings: Many authors recognize that Social Sustainability is a nascent research area (Kordi, Belayutham, & Che Ibrahim, 2021; Thomson, Kennelly, & Toohey, 2020). The result of this systematic literature review, independent of any specific industry or context, was to gain an understanding of the existing research and latest debates relevant to the topic. Transdisciplinary research can address gaps in social legacy studies by uniting the views and understandings of diverse scholars and practitioners. Our first observation is that the majority of articles lack references to any particular theoretical model. This finding is concerning as theory is crucial for validating management research. Only 9 articles (out of 40) adopt a theoretical foundation, the stakeholder theory being the most popular one. This may not be surprising, giving that understanding stakeholders is fundamental analyzing the relationship between a ‘valued object’ and it ‘perceived outcomes’ (Girginov & Preuss, 2021). A second result from this literature review is the development of aninitial set of indicators to describe Social Sustainability independently of any specific context. The outcome is a list of 25 indicators, either tangible or intangible, which can be grouped in seven themes, represented in the table below. Expanding upon these preliminary findings, we sought to validate these outcomes using a document analysis approach of the Candidature Files of the 2024
Olympic Games. A first observation is that most indicators from the theoretical framework were referenced in these Files, suggesting that the framework has a solid foundation. On the other hand, real detailed actions or measurable Key Performance Indicators were often noticeably absent. Additionally, we identified new indicators associated with sports legacy. In line with our literature review, minimal attention has been given to stakeholders other than athletes and the media.
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Social Sustainability