From the Asia-Pacific to Africa: the involvement of stakeholders in the novel esports societies in the digital sport era

Abstract

Esport is steadily evolving yet gaining recognition and critical mass although still in its infancy. Since it is a relatively new phenomenon, new potential stakeholders emerge. However, esports stakeholder panoramas in many Asia-Pacific and African societies have remained obscure. By incorporating the stakeholder theory, integrative literature review, focus group research design, this paper offers fruitful insights about the esport ecosystem in the digital sport era. The findings underpin that anchoring stakeholder relationships on technology adoption, hands-on stakeholder engagements and collaborations, institutionalization of gaming and esports tourism, entities can boost their competitiveness and momentum to flourish in the midst of legitimacy challenges and the growing antagonism with traditional sports. The result indicates that stakeholders occupy valuable space in the value chain. This paper’s key contribution is the proposing of a conceptual framework for augmenting growth, co-creation, governance, and future ecosystem mapping in the increasingly dynamic esport space.