Reframing physical activity in sport development: managing Active Partnerships' strategic responses to policy change

PurposeThis paper examines the role of senior personnel within Active Partnerships as the personnel seek to strategically manage UK policy developments. This paper explores how Active Partnerships engage with the policy process within an environment characterized by systemic structural changes, mounting fiscal challenges, political uncertainty and a succession of public health concerns.Design/methodology/approachUsing the Multiple-Streams Framework (MSF), a case study approach was adopted, focusing on the perspectives of senior personnel. Semi-structured interviews with individuals involved in the management and operation of five Active Partnerships across the South of England and one national stakeholder that works closely with Active Partnerships were conducted. Data were collected during the period following Andy Reed's review of the operation of Active Partnerships. The interviews were complemented by documentary analysis.FindingsFindings illustrate that while senior practitioners within Active Partnerships often behave in line with Lipsky's notion of street-level bureaucrats, by maximizing collective leverage, advocating priorities and providing a voice for local partners, the senior practitioners adopt behaviors more akin to policy entrepreneurs. In this sense, they seek to influence the policy process at critical junctures in order to promote preferred outcomes and protect sectoral interests.Originality/valueThis study has explored the relationship between strategic management and the policy process in the context of the rapidly changing policy domain that frames the work of regional sports organizations known as Active Partnerships. The conceptual frame of the investigation is the concept of “policy entrepreneurship”, which seeks to articulate how individuals and collectives engage in the policy process, in order to secure outcomes conducive to their objectives. This, in turn, provides a sense of context for the contemporary challenges associated with the management of sport and physical activity (PA).