The role of woman in crisis management: the case of sport-based entrepreneurship

This paper investigates the role of women who hold top-level positions in the management of firms in managing and overcoming the corporate crisis. The research's main goal relies on discovering the extent to which gender differences affect perceived crisis proneness/preparedness in organisational settings in sport-based entrepreneurship. In particular, we aim to study actions, decision-making, abilities, and opportunities women can exploit to strategically run the business during a crisis. The research question is answered through a single case study approach based on the basketball club “Virtus Cassino”, which participates in the Italian national Serie B basketball championship. We conducted semi-structured interviews with the woman entrepreneur. We analysed strategic business documents, the website, and articles published in the press on Virtus Cassino. Therefore, the female entrepreneur figure represents a vital aspect of the analysis conducted and the strategic management model of crisis management. The Ratten (2011) and Ahonen (2019) frameworks were used to test our results in achieving the research aims. Finally, a triangulation of the research results was conducted to attest to the integrity and reliability of the data. The paper enriches the literature on gender and crisis by providing a strategic management model for crisis management in sports entrepreneurship, guided by a female entrepreneur. The results of this research contribute to the literature also on sport-based entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship theory, identifying the strategic levers of crisis management guided by a female entrepreneur, including intangible elements such as the manager's entrepreneurial skills, the cultural background of the factors, the relationships established by the sports club with fans and specialized figures in the sector. This model helps to understand how the role of women, even in sports enterprises, can be considered valuable for overcoming corporate managerial crises.