Exploring elite athletes' entrepreneurial intentions: unraveling the impact of high-level sports career in skills development

Elite athletes face short careers and early retirement (often between ages 30–35), prompting the need for second careers. Entrepreneurship is a common and suitable path because athletic careers foster traits and skills valuable to entrepreneurship (resilience, proactivity, creativity). The study addresses a literature gap by examining how elite athletes perceive the acquisition of entrepreneurial skills through high-level sport and how these skills relate to their entrepreneurial intentions (EIs), considering additional factors like dual career (studying while competing) and sport type (team vs. individual). Using a configurational perspective (fsQCA), the research explores combinations of skills and contextual factors that lead to high or low EIs among elite athletes from Spain.

The paper reviews the growing societal and academic relevance of entrepreneurship, especially post-COVID-19, highlighting its role in innovation, competitiveness, productivity, wealth generation, and job creation. It discusses how crises demand dynamic, innovative, and resilient behaviors. Rising youth unemployment in Spain and Europe has elevated entrepreneurship education, which correlates positively with EIs. The review then focuses on EIs as precursors to entrepreneurial behavior, influenced by both formal education and perceived skills. Dual Career (DC) systems allow elite athletes to combine sport with academic or professional training, potentially boosting EIs through knowledge acquisition and transferable competencies from sport. Key entrepreneurial skills linked to EIs are elaborated: resilience (adaptive response to adversity; developed in sport, related to entrepreneurial success), proactivity (self-initiated, change-oriented behavior; associated with opportunity seeking and EIs), and creativity (generation of useful, novel ideas; essential antecedent of EIs). The potential influence of sport type is considered: tactical creativity may be more prominent in team sports, while resilience and proactivity may be emphasized in individual sports. The review positions the study as an integrated, configurational analysis of these skills plus DC, age, and sport type on EIs.

Design: Cross-sectional survey with configurational analysis (fsQCA). Participants: 200 elite athletes from the Valencian Community (Spain) listed as elite by the Generalitat Valenciana in 2022. Sample: 51% male, 49% female; mean age 23.30 years (SD 7.95); 42% team sports, 58% individual; 151 (75.5%) studying (dual career). Education levels among those studying: majority university students (55.3%), followed by higher and intermediate vocational training, and smaller shares in secondary, baccalaureate, master’s, doctorate, and federation technical training. Measures (all 5-point Likert; responses framed as skills acquired/developed through high-level sport): - Entrepreneurial Intentions (EI): 6 items from Liñán & Chen (2009) Spanish version; α=0.96; scale mean 2.39. - Resilience: CD-RISC-10 (Connor & Davidson, 2003; Spanish validated); α=0.92; scale mean 4.17. - Proactivity: 6-item Proactive Personality Scale (Bateman & Crant, 1993; Spanish validated); α=0.87; scale mean 4.02. - Creativity: 6-item adaptation from Zhou & George (2001) (Biraglia & Kadile, 2017); α=0.92; scale mean 3.71. Procedure: Online questionnaire via LimeSurvey disseminated by the Directorate General of Sport of the Valencian Community to all 2022 elite-listed athletes; anonymity/confidentiality assured; ethics approval obtained. Data analysis: Descriptive statistics in SPSS 25.0. fsQCA 3.0 used to examine necessary and sufficient conditions for high and low EI. Calibration: Continuous variables (creativity, resilience, proactivity) calibrated using 10th/50th/90th percentiles; items multiplied to increase variability; nominal variables (study status, sport type, gender) coded 0/1. Necessity analysis with threshold consistency >0.90. Sufficiency analysis via truth table with frequency cutoff 4 (sample >150) and consistency threshold ≥0.75; intermediate solutions reported; PRI >0.50 used to reduce ambiguity. Central vs peripheral conditions identified by comparing parsimonious and intermediate solutions. Model evaluation by solution coverage (analogous to variance explained) and consistency. Predictive validity tested by split-sample procedures and XY plots; robustness assessed by varying thresholds (e.g., consistency 0.77), examining stability of configurations.

- Descriptives: Athletes reported high perceived development of resilience (mean 4.17), proactivity (4.02), and creativity (3.71). EI mean was modest (2.39). - Necessity: No single condition (skills, study status, age, sport type) was a necessary condition for either high or low EIs (all consistencies <0.90). - High EIs (intermediate solution): Three sufficient configurations explained 38% of high-EI cases (solution consistency 0.78; coverage 0.38). Across all high-EI solutions, high creativity and high resilience were present; high proactivity appeared in two solutions. Configurations (raw coverage; consistency): 1) Individual-sport athletes with high creativity, resilience, and proactivity, pursuing a dual career (studying) (coverage ~0.21; consistency ~0.75). 2) Individual-sport athletes with high creativity, resilience, and proactivity, and older age (coverage ~0.20; consistency ~0.79). 3) Team-sport athletes who are older and studying with high creativity and resilience (proactivity less critical/absent), (coverage ~0.11; consistency ~0.87). Interpretation: High creativity and resilience are core across pathways; proactivity strengthens two pathways. Either educational engagement (DC) or greater experience (older age) combines with these skills to yield high EIs. - Low EIs: Three configurations explained 50% of low-EI cases (solution consistency 0.78; coverage 0.50). "Studying" appeared in all three solutions (not as a core condition). Younger age was core in two. Representative patterns (raw coverage; consistency): 1) Younger athletes in team sports who are studying (coverage ~0.35; consistency ~0.92). 2) Younger athletes who are studying and perceive high creativity but low proactivity and low resilience (coverage ~0.03; consistency ~0.87). 3) Younger individual-sport athletes who are studying and perceive high resilience but low creativity and low proactivity (coverage ~0.27; consistency ~0.81). Interpretation: In younger athletes, lacking at least two of the three skills (especially when proactivity or creativity is low) is associated with low EIs, even when studying. - Predictive validity and robustness: Split-sample validation showed good predictive ability (e.g., Model 1 on retained sample: consistency 0.85; coverage 0.11). Robustness checks with alternative thresholds yielded similar substantive solutions, reaffirming the centrality of creativity and resilience (and proactivity in some), combined with DC and/or age.

The study demonstrates that combinations of entrepreneurial skills developed through elite sport are linked to elite athletes’ entrepreneurial intentions. It confirms the propositions that higher resilience, proactivity, and creativity relate to higher EIs, with resilience and creativity consistently appearing together across all high-EI profiles. Proactivity augments EIs in many cases but is not universally required when resilience and creativity are strong and supported by DC or accumulated experience. The findings clarify that DC (academic engagement) and older age act as complementary enablers: education supplies entrepreneurial knowledge and opportunity recognition, whereas experience may deepen skill development and networks, compensating for lack of formal training. Sport type alone does not deterministically predict EIs; rather, sport context shapes which skills are emphasized (e.g., tactical creativity in team sports; resilience/proactivity in individual sports), which then combine with DC and age to influence EIs. These insights address the research question by mapping multiple causal pathways (equifinality) to high or low EIs and underscore the importance of integrating skill development with education and career-stage considerations to promote entrepreneurship among elite athletes.

This study profiles elite athletes’ entrepreneurial intentions through a configurational lens, showing multiple pathways to high EIs centered on high creativity and resilience, often supported by proactivity and either dual-career education or greater age/experience. Contributions include: (1) evidencing how transferable soft skills from high-level sport combine to shape EIs; (2) extending EI research in elite athletes using fsQCA; and (3) highlighting DC and career stage as key contextual enablers. Practical implications urge sports organizations and educational institutions to integrate entrepreneurship education, resilience training, creativity cultivation, and proactive skill development, alongside DC support, mentorship, and incubators tailored to athletes. Future research should broaden samples across regions/cultures, employ longitudinal designs to track translation of EIs into ventures, compare analytical methods (fsQCA vs. regressions), and test interventions that develop entrepreneurial skills and intentions during athletes’ careers and transitions.

- Regional and sampling constraints: Convenience sample of elite athletes from the Valencian Community limits generalizability; non-probability sampling may introduce selection bias. - Cross-sectional design: Cannot infer causality or track whether intentions translate into entrepreneurial behavior. - Methodological scope: Focus on selected skills (resilience, proactivity, creativity) and contextual factors (DC, age, sport type) excludes other potential determinants (e.g., TPB constructs, role models, institutional supports). - Measurement framing: Skill perceptions tied to development via high-level sport; objective assessments or multi-source measures were not used. - Configurational choices: fsQCA calibration and threshold settings, while tested for robustness, may influence specific solutions.