A Comparative Study of the Organizational Culture of Japanese and Chinese Community Sports Clubs

Abstract

  In light of the fact that the transition from a quantitative expansion to a qualitative enhancement of community sports clubs is sought in both Japan and China, this research aimed to ascertain the applicability of the clubs′ organizational culture measurement scale, and clarify the characteristics of the organizational culture of community sports clubs in Japan and China.
  The survey was conducted via the leaving method with a total of 400 instructors from 10 clubs in Tokyo and Shanghai, and valid responses were obtained from 129 in Japan and 128 in China. The survey was conducted with the approval of the Juntendo University Ethics Review Committee.
  We validly measured with the scale using the survey items of Geert Hofstede, the leading figure in the field of international comparison of organizational cultures, in which we conducted exploratory factor analysis on the target (14 items), perception (5 items), and belief (10 items), and from which a scale of 12 items in total was extracted, including economic opportunity factor (target) 3 items, guidance opportunity factor (target) 3 items, realistic problem recognition factor (perception) 4 items, and ideological problem recognition factor (belief) 2 items. The validity of the four-factor structural scale was confirmed after conducting verifiable factor analysis. It′s interesting that, judging from the mean of the four factors, the instruction opportunity factor indicated high values in both Japan and China. And the value in China was obviously higher than that in Japan. Analysis of simultaneous multi-population by using structural equations modeling showed a positive influence from the realistic problem recognition factor to the economic opportunity factor, and from the ideological problem recognition factor to the guidance opportunity factor in Japan, whereas such results were not found in China. In addition, a positive impact from the ideological problem recognition factor to the economic opportunity factor was commonly found in both Japan and China.