Mixed methods approach to develop a competitive intelligence survey for south african cricket coaches

Abstract

Sport coaches and business managers follow similar activities to collect, analyse and communicate data related to the opposition, known as competitive intelligence (CI), to gain a competitive advantage through strategic decision making. Little is known about the CI process that coaches follow. This study aimed to develop a CI survey for South African cricket coaches and to determine content and face validity of the items. The CI survey was developed using a mixed-methods approach that integrated at four points during a five-step process. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with high-level cricket coaches and support staff, followed by a constant comparative method of qualitative data analysis with Atlas.TiTM software. Theory and data-driven interview codes and categories were quantitised. A cluster analysis concatenated the codes into five conceptual themes, each with sub-categories. These themes were used to create scales of the survey, whereas the categories were used to create items. Experts confirmed the content, face and preliminary factorial validity of newly developed scales and items of the CI survey. The newly developed CI survey for cricket coaches is unique within the sporting fraternity and holds promise for researchers to further explore this phenomenon within the social sciences field of enquiry.

Keywords: Competitive intelligence; Mixed methods; Survey development.