Organizational Learning as a Critical Factor in Accessing the Erasmus+ Sport Program

Abstract

From a comparative perspective, this article analyzes which organizational factors favored the number of projects with European funds in Romania and Italy in sport. Italy ranks first in the EU in accessing Erasmus + grants on the sports component, followed by Spain, Croatia, Bulgaria, France, Greece, Slovenia, and Romania. While in Italy, more organizations are applying for funding, with an average of 0-5 projects per program period/organization, in Romania, fewer organizations apply for projects, but more projects/organization. An online questionnaire was addressed to a sample of 234 sports organizations from Italy and 49 sports organizations in Romania, followed by online interviews that were interpreted through the NVIVO platform. This research showed that in terms of performance, the organization’s number of employees impacts the revenues obtained and, implicitly, the financial result of the organization. Also, the number of Erasmus SPORT projects of the organizations in 2014-2020 as leaders or partners correlates with the organization's total income and financial result. On the other hand, there are no significant differences between the two countries on the factors that contributed the most to the success of organizations in Romania and Italy in obtaining funding through the Erasmus + program. Romanian and Italian organizations consider essential factors in attracting projects, the network of external partners with experience in writing and implementing projects, and internal human resource.

Keywords

• european funds
• performance
• organizational learning
• human resources
• training