The perceived importance of sport management competencies by academics and practitioners in the cultural/industrial context of Taiwan

The study of management competencies and their application in the field of sport management has an established tradition. It is only relatively recently however that concern to consider the culturally specific context of competency evaluation has developed in the mainstream management literature and little work has been developed in the sport management field to address cultural specificity in respect of competencies. In addition the distinction between those competencies valued by sport management educators and by sport management practitioners is a relatively neglected topic. This study evaluates the perceptions of the critical competencies required of sport managers in Taiwan developing and applying a locally based tool for evaluation of competencies in sport management, and in particular evaluates the differences between the perceptions of sport management academics and practitioners in Taiwan. The results of this study highlight cultural differences between the Taiwanese and other cultural contexts in terms of the perceived importance of particular competencies, and have implications for sport management professional development and training.