Evaluating the London 2012 Games’ impact on sport participation in a non-hosting region: a practical application of realist evaluation

ShuShu Chen, Ian Henry

Research output: Contribution to journalArticle (journal)peer-review

34 Citations (Scopus)
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Abstract

In the literature on Olympic legacies and impacts there is a dearth of materials that specifically address the issue of Olympic impact for non-hosting regions. The literature tends to deal with impacts at a national level, or at a hosting-city region level, neglecting in large part the degree to which benefits can be leveraged by non-hosting regions. A further limitation identified in the literature is a failure to engage in detailed formal evaluation of policy implementation where assertions of potential policy impact are based on untested assumptions. This study is intended to address both of these concerns. It presents an empirical, ‘bottom-up’ application of a Realist Evaluation framework to assess the impact of a policy initiative – Workplace Challenge – aimed at leveraging enhanced sports participation in a non-hosting ‘region’1 – Leicestershire – in the period leading up to the 2012 Games. In doing so it seeks, to identify which causal mechanisms worked within this particular context to produce the observed outcomes. The evaluation results demonstrate that the programme represented a positive approach to fostering regular engagement with sport and physical activities for some groups in some types of organisations; and that awareness and motivational factors associated with the London 2012 Games are, in this case, linked (albeit weakly) to an increase in sport and physical activity participation for
Original languageEnglish
JournalLeisure Studies
DOIs
Publication statusE-pub ahead of print - 18 May 2015

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