The variance of information management by South African sport coaches within different competitive levels

Information management of sport coaches is a crucial factor that contributes to their competitive success. In current sport competitions, it is not a matter of if coaches are collecting and using information, but how it is being managed to provide an advantage. In this respect, National Federations as sport governing bodies, should support and develop the information management skills and activities of coaches. Therefore, it is important to gain insight into how coaches from various competitive levels currently utilise the available information for enhanced competitiveness. This research followed a qualitative design with data collection performed through semi-structured interviews with high-level cricket coaches and their support staff. Deductive codes of person collecting data, skills of the person collecting, methods used (which includes technology), sources utilised, finances and value assigned derived from the first stage of the competitive intelligence 4Cs process model by Weiss (2002) were used to code the interview data. The inter- and intra-rater coding procedure was substantiated by strong Cohen?s Kappa values of 0.80 and 0.78 for intra and inter-rater reliability. The findings indicated clear differences between coaches? data collection management within the various competitive levels. This sheds light on previously hidden practices of coaches, and adds to the current knowledge pool. Likewise, the findings highlight the contrast of extremely professional data collection management at the highest cricket competitive level, compared to situational, unprofessional, irregular and, in some instances, complete lack of data collection management at the lower competitive levels. The findings could guide the National Federations to develop coach educational programmes to enhance the information management process of cricket coaches across the various competitive levels.