Allan Bennich Grønkjær

• Charway, Derrick; Asare, Francis & Grønkjær, Allan B. (2025). Leave No One Behind? Analysing Sport Inclusion Policy‐Implementation for Persons With Disabilities in Ghana. Social Inclusion. 13. doi: 10.17645/si.8866. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Sport inclusion policies for persons with disabilities are prevalent in many countries; however, actual support in local communities is lacking or inadequately addressed. In this article, we analyse the implementation of sport inclusion policies and the extent to which they exclude or include disabled sport associations in Ghana’s District Sports Units. Using document analysis, focus group discussions, and semi‐structured interviews, we collected data from representatives of state and non‐state organisations, drawing theoretical insights from ableism and policy networks to analyse the implementation of sport inclusion policies. The findings reveal that despite inclusion provisions at the local level, the policy implementation process presents challenges for District Sports Units. These challenges include the lack of funding, conflicts among network actors, deliberate disregard, membership gaps, and the absence of an integrated programme for disabled sport associations. These findings further inform our understanding of collaborative alliances, local autonomy, and the implication of ableism for policy networks.

• Maciá-Andreu, María J.; Yilmaz, Serhat; Grønkjær, Allan B.; Tinaz, Cem; Christoforou, Anastasia & Leiva-Arcas, Alejandro (2024). Dual career of the student-athlete through sports technology-oriented entrepreneurship: Perception of sport retirement and learning needs according to gender and educational level. Cultura_Ciencia_Deporte (CCD). ISSN 1696-5043. 19(60), p. 39–52. doi: 10.12800/ccd.v19i60.2165. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  This article explores the relationship between studentathletes’ dual careers in the field of technology-focused sport entrepreneurship, with an emphasis on gender and educational dissimilarities in retirement perceptions and learning needs. A sample of 205 student-athletes from five countries (United Kingdom, Spain, Sweden, Norway and Turkey), responded to an ad hoc questionnaire in order to understand athletes’ perceptions of retirement, future aspirations and learning needs with respect to sports technology-oriented entrepreneurship. The findings reveal significant gender and educational differences on post-sporting life perception and professional career expectations, underlining the importance of targeted educational and support interventions. This study contributes to understanding the complexities of studentathletes’ career decisions, especially in the context of the convergence of sport, entrepreneurship and technology.

• Strittmatter, Anna-Maria; Horbel, Chris; Traberg, Josephine; Strömberg, Julius Zackarias; Bodemar, Gun Annika Viola & Grønkjær, Allan B. [Show all 7 contributors for this article] (2024). Prioritization of the Sustainable Development Goals in the sustainability transition process of sport organizations: national strategies and sport managers’ perspectives. German Journal of Exercise and Sport Research. ISSN 2509-3142. 55, p. 94–103. doi: 10.1007/s12662-024-00985-z. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  This study explores the relevance, and applicability, of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in relation to Norwegian sport organizations’ sustainability transition. The following research questions guided the study: (1) How do National Sport Governing Bodies (NGBs) strategically address and prioritize SDGs and why? (2) How does the strategic prioritization of SDGs align with sport managers’ perspectives? (3) What does their prioritization of SDGs imply about the progress of sustainability transition within the Norwegian sports sector? The qualitative study is based on three interviews with directors in NGBs, document analysis of 11 strategy documents by six NGBs’ and essays produced by 82 sport managers representing the respective NGBs. Data analysis was informed by neo-institutional theory and the waves of sustainability transition framework. In our sample, spanning a diverse range of sports, we observed that 10 different SDGs are seen as relevant for NGBs from a strategy perspective, while sport managers prioritized eight. There is a strong alignment between national strategies and sport managers’ perspectives which is explainable through coercive, mimetic and normative pressures within the organizational field of sports. This further demonstrates that SDG prioritization is linked to the sport political context. While the alignment of prioritization from different perspectives provides a solid foundation for advancing sustainability work, the missing link between the SDGs and organizational goals with concrete suggestions for measures witnesses that Norwegian sport organizations are still in the infancy of sustainable transition.

• Grønkjær, Allan B. (2024). The leadership of high-performance directors in the governance structure of Danish elite sport. International Journal of Sport Management and Marketing. ISSN 1475-8962. 24(1), p. 40–57. doi: 10.1504/IJSMM.2024.135623. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  This study aims to examine the role of high-performance directors (HPDs) as leaders and how governance affects their decision-making process. This qualitative study consists of nine semi-structured interviews conducted in 2019-2020 with HPDs and other key personnel in Danish elite sport. The inter-organisational relationship between national sport organisations and Team Danmark, Denmark's national high-performance sport organisation, constitutes a valuable research context to examine governance and leadership in elite sport. The analysis of the empirical research shows that HPDs in Danish elite sport lead in a context that provides both restrictions and opportunities. The organisational structure provides HPDs with opportunities but, at the same time, restricts the overall framework for HPDs as leaders, illustrating how leadership and governance are interconnected.

• Grønkjær, Allan B. (2023). Struggling with the amateur identity: the self-perception of the Danish football movement, 1880s to 1970s. Soccer and Society. ISSN 1466-0970. 24(3), p. 293–305. doi: 10.1080/14660970.2023.2179194. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  A vital element of the history of football in Denmark is the identity of the football movement. It developed itself in Denmark from the end of the nineteenth century. Contact with Great Britain was an inspiration, and the values of people of the new Danish bourgeoisie class dominated the movement. This led to a particular identity and a self-perception of the morals of the amateur. These aspects influenced Danish football until the legalization of professional football in the late 1970s. The Danish F.A. (Dansk Boldspil-Union) constantly changed the amateur rules to adapt to the demands of the clubs, their members and society. This article builds on sources from the clubs and the Danish FA. These are analysed as part of a historical narrative that contributed to the identity and self-perception of the Danish football movement.

• Adam, Sandy; Grønkjær, Allan B.; Strittmatter, Anna-Maria & Wohlfart, Olivia (2022). Playing by the rules of academia? The impact of an international research project on the professional identity development of early-career academics in sport management. International Journal of Educational Research Open. 3. doi: 10.1016/j.ijedro.2022.100173. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  The purpose of this study is to examine how participating in an international research project (IRP) can impact the way early-career academics (ECAs) perceive academia and thus their professional identity development. Based on neoinstitutional theory, we examine autoethnographic memory stories of six ECAs within sport management who participated in an international research project (IRP). These ECAs experienced an important professional socialization process into the institutional logics of sport management academia. We found that the academics' perception of doing research was influenced by reflection processes of and within the prevailing logics of the organizational field of sport management academia. ECAs benefit from participating in IRPs as they foster the ability to develop career decisions that will benefit them personally and professionally. The paper highlights opportunities of IRPs in contributing to transferable skill development for ECAs and concludes with recommendations for doctoral students and educators.

• Grønkjær, Allan B. & Frøyen, Anne Fylling (2021). Leading and managing during COVID-19: empirical insights from the Norwegian women’s national handball team in a time of crisis. Sport in Society: Cultures, Commerce, Media, Politics. ISSN 1743-0437. doi: 10.1080/17430437.2021.2016704. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  From March 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic influenced elite sport as uncertainty and restrictions came with the crisis. National teams had to implement crisis management. This qualitative case study examines how the leader group led and managed the Norwegian national women’s handball team through three phases of the crisis, trying to uphold performance. We found that collective leadership efforts led to new ways to use digital communication tools and flexible management. From a framework of concepts from organisational culture, leadership, and management during a crisis, we argue that the leader group used the pandemic to take advantage of the opportunities. They implemented a focus on improving the players’ physical and tactical conditions and their restitution. Furthermore, the leader group draw on robust institutional factors such as trust to handle the crisis. This study contributes to knowledge on leadership and management in a time of crisis and, in particular, on COVID-19.

• Grønkjær, Allan B. & Hanstad, Dag Vidar (2021). Leading for success in Danish and Norwegian national team handball. In Andersen, Svein S; Hansen, Per Øystein & Houlihan, Barrie (Ed.), Embedded Multi-Level Leadership in Elite Sport. Routledge. ISSN 9780367552770. p. 142–160. doi: 10.4324/9781003092728-9. Full text in Research Archive
• Smolianov, Peter; Grønkjær, Allan B.; Ridpath, B. Dave & Dolmatova, Tamara (2021). USA and leadership in elite ice hockey. In Andersen, Svein S; Hansen, Per Øystein & Houlihan, Barrie (Ed.), Embedded Multi-Level Leadership in Elite Sport. Routledge. ISSN 9780367552770. p. 184–204. doi: 10.4324/9781003092728-11. Full text in Research Archive

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• Skjeldal, Gudmund & Grønkjær, Allan B. (2022). Fred og krig : festskrift til Matti Goksøyr. Norges idrettshøgskole. ISBN 9788250206076. 140 p. Full text in Research Archive

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• Grønkjær, Allan B. (2026). Leading across multilevels: Understanding leadership and management in high-performance sport in Norway and Denmark. Norges idrettshøgskole. ISSN 9788250206458. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  The dissertation examines the leadership and management of high-performance sport. It emphasises how political and cultural contextual factors in sport, especially in national elite sport systems and within national sports organisations (NSOs), influence leadership processes. The analysis in this dissertation includes the NSO-employed high-performance director (HPD) and other individuals with similar responsibilities who facilitate leadership and collaboration. In addition, the dissertation illustrates how inter-organisational relationships in national elite sport systems affect high-performance sport on the strategic and implementation level. The overall research question for the dissertation is: How is high-performance sport in NSOs in the elite sport systems of Norway and Denmark led and managed, and how do multilevel contextual factors influence the leadership process? The dissertation includes four studies that are presented in a paper each. These four papers investigate 1) How governance and leadership affect each other in the Danish elite sport system. 2) How the distinct structural approaches to high-performance governance in Denmark, Norway, and Sweden influence the role of the HPD (or similar function) in facilitating multilevel collaboration between national sport organisations and the national elite sport organisation. 3) How the contextual factors of the handball NSOs in Denmark and Norway affect the leadership and management of the national senior teams in both countries. 4) How a leader group of a high-performance team led through the crisis of the COVID-19 pandemic to maintain performance. The theoretical framework is informed by the concepts of multilevel leadership in sport management. In addition, other theoretical approaches relating to leadership and management are included to support the concept of multilevel leadership and grasp the complexity of working in high-performance sport. These concepts cover organisational culture, leadership as a collective process, governance as part of the multilevel leadership process, performance management, and inter-organisational relationships. This research is based on qualitative case studies. This approach makes it possible to examine leadership processes by identifying and analysing relationships through these in-depth studies. Informants were found using a purposive sampling strategy to identify individuals with considerable experience or knowledge about the phenomenon. The informants have key roles in the elite sport system and high-performance sport. The dissertation investigates the leadership and management of high-performance sport within the national sports organisations (NSOs) of Norway and Denmark, highlighting the influence of multilevel contextual factors. Comprising four papers, it illustrates how leadership dynamics differ across sporting contexts, shaped by varying political and normative environments. One of the key findings is that the objectives and resources of national elite sport organisations significantly impact leadership and decision-making. Leadership is inherently connected to governance processes, which present both opportunities and constraints for leaders. Successful HPDs and others in similar roles may draw on traditional management models and adapt their practices according to the organisational culture. The case study of the women’s national handball team during the pandemic exemplifies how societal trust can affect leadership styles. The main findings are that leadership and management processes are influenced by the multilevel contexts of culture, societal values, and regulated procedures. These are present in many parts of the elite sport systems. Also, the findings illustrate the importance of structure as a significant constraint on agency. Therefore, it is critical for the HPD and others taking a leadership role to handle these demands and variations to access the resources needed for development. This can be done by facilitating inter-organisational collaborations. In addition, the leader must be attentive to the performance environment where the leadership approach is essential for human connections and the development of teams. Hence, leadership of high-performance sport reflects institutional factors, and a value-based perspective is found in team leadership. The findings also suggest an understanding of the HPD as a linchpin in high-performance sport. The HPD or a similar facilitator is the centre of collaboration with the national elite sport organisation. The role is vital in multilevel leadership, acting as a liaison to the external environment. Finally, this study clarifies variations in high-performance sport support in the Scandinavian countries.

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