Public Management of Sports Talent Development: From Traditional Theories to Digital Management Concepts

Abstract

The article presents a systematic analysis of the evolution of theoretical concepts in public management of sports talent development from traditional bureaucratic models to contemporary digital management paradigms within the context of global digitalisation and socio-economic transformations. The author identifies a fundamental ontological contradiction between the nature of information (non-excludability, non-rivalry, immateriality) and traditional management instruments designed for physical objects, which generates exponential growth in digital infrastructure duplication costs without actual control over data. Through the lens of the ‘primary management lever’ criterion, eight traditional public management concepts are analysed (from Weberian bureaucracy to stakeholder theory), revealing their capabilities and structural limitations for managing sports ecosystems, as well as their digital adaptation potential. The transformative impact of four digital concepts (gamification, tokenisation, platform economy, metaverse) on five basic management functions (planning, organising, motivating, coordinating, controlling) is examined, demonstrating both synergistic effects and new forms of digital inequality and algorithmic discrimination. A solution to the ontological gap is proposed through the concept of ‘digital asset information resource’ as a hybrid object with a tripartite nature (primary asset → information resource → tokenized asset), which transfers control from the technically impossible data level to the cryptographically secured access level. Theoretical foundations for integrating traditional and digital approaches are substantiated through complex adaptive systems theory, actor-network theory, institutional logics theory, the socio-materiality concept, and value transformation theory, enabling the creation of a comprehensive conceptual framework for modernising public management of sports talents. The practical significance of the research lies in the possibility of developing a unique Ukrainian sports management model, where decentralisation becomes a competitive advantage through blockchain coordination, whilst wartime challenges are transformed into opportunities for diaspora engagement in young athletes’ investment through tokenisation.