The adoption of wearable technologies for data analytics in South African netball

Abstract

Limited research exists on the use of wearable technology in South African netball, and identifying the factors that influence adoption can help gain a better understanding of the drivers and barriers impacting data analytics within the sport. There is a lack of knowledge about the factors influencing the adoption of wearable technologies in South African netball for data analytics purposes. The population includes the coaches and team management staff of the South African senior national netball team, U21 team, and development team. This encompasses but is not limited to the head coach, assistant coach, high- performance coach, strength and conditioning coach, team manager, medical lead/team doctor, physiotherapist and performance analyst. The proposed methodology for this study is a qualitative approach, employing qualitative techniques to gather comprehensive data. This approach is chosen to collect opinions and understand participants' experiences related to the study. The data collected will be analysed using appropriate quantitative techniques to explore how various factors influence the adoption of wearable technologies by key stakeholders within netball in South Africa. This study will employ semi- structured interviews as the data collection method, allowing for the exploration of themes, experiences, attitudes, and perceptions related to the research questions and topics about TAM 2 and external factors influencing the use of wearable technology in netball. The key findings are that the adoption of wearable technologies in South African netball is influenced by multiple external factors, organisational, technological, and social factors