Title: Corporate philanthropy toward the community and organisational commitment in the fitness sector

Authors: Marla Lubinsky; Alison Doherty; Shannon Kerwin

Addresses: Faculty of Health Sciences, School of Kinesiology, The University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, N6A 3K7, Canada. ' Faculty of Health Sciences, School of Kinesiology, The University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, N6A 3K7, Canada. ' Department of Tourism, Recreation, and Sport Management, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, 32611, USA

Abstract: This study examined the influence of corporate philanthropy (CP) toward the community (specifically organisation and employee giving and volunteering) on three dimensions of organisational commitment among a sample of head office staff (N = 91) of a large fitness organisation. Corporate involvement and corporate support for employee volunteering were found to be positively associated with affective commitment, and negatively associated with continuance commitment. Neither type of CP was associated with normative commitment. The findings extend our understanding of the nature and influence of CP, and have implications for its development as a strategic practice in the fitness sector.

Keywords: corporate philanthropy; organisational commitment; fitness industry; employee giving; head office staff; corporate involvement; corporate support; employee volunteering; affective commitment; continuance commitment; normative commitment; strategic practices; Canada; sport management; sport marketing; corporate responsibility; stewardship.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSMM.2011.043615

International Journal of Sport Management and Marketing, 2011 Vol.10 No.1/2, pp.1 - 20

Received: 20 Aug 2010
Accepted: 10 Aug 2011
Published online: 21 Feb 2015 *

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