Abstract

In sport management literature two concepts have emerged as key areas of interest for youth sport organizations struggling to operate: interorganizational relationships and organizational capacity. Capacity is understood as the organization’s ability to serve the needs and interests of their members while interorganizational relationships (IORs) are cooperative relationships that seek to share resources for enhanced performance. Interorganizational relationship development has been identified as an effective strategy for strengthening the capacity of youth sport organizations. Cross-sector relationships hold promise for shaping the youth sport landscape in a positive way. Organizational capacity and IORs are related, yet questions remain surrounding how IORs are being used to enhance organizational capacity in cross-sector youth sport networks. The purpose of this research study was to examine the link between interorganizational relationships and organizational capacity in a baseball network in a Region of Ontario, Canada. Population data were collected from representatives of youth baseball organizations through a survey instrument using a telephone interview format and analyzed using social network analysis. The results highlighted that not all IORs are developed for the purpose of resource sharing as both human and financial resources were shared relatively sparingly in the network. The findings also found that IORs and sector ties were statistically significant in their ability to predict organizational capacity ties. Overall, the results of this study allowed for conclusions to be drawn related to network structure, organizational capacity, and the relationship between IORs and organizational capacity in a youth baseball network.