Addressing the Complexity of Violence Against Women in Sport: Using the World Café Method to Inform Organizational Response

Abstract

In this article we discuss the process and outcomes arising from a unique collaboration involving researchers and professionals to explore key gaps and challenges in sport organizations’ responses to violence against women. Using the World Café method in a one-day research forum in Victoria, Australia, we brought together State sport organizations, violence against women organizations and multi-disciplinary researchers to reflect upon the multiple contexts that shape violence against women in community sport. Drawing together insights from feminist research and a socio-ecological perspective, this article contributes to sport management scholarship by using an innovative methodology for collaborative knowledge sharing and creation to explore the challenges and opportunities for organizational action to address violence against women. We advance a gendered lens for understanding how power relations shape sport management practice contexts as well as future research into organizational thinking, research, and responses to violence against women.