VALUATION OF HUMAN CAPITAL IN THE SPORTS INDUSTRY: A STUDY OF THE GHANAIAN FOOTBALL SECTOR

ABSTRACT The main purpose of this study is to understand the factors that are taken into account when quoting transfer fees for players as an element of human capital valuation. The study adopted an exploratory research approach by interviewing local football clubs in Ghana in order to gain an in-depth understanding of the subject. From the research, it is revealed that human capital valuation is very prominent in the football sector through the proposal of transfer fees. The goal of football clubs is to achieve significant capital gain on resale of players. It is also found that local football clubs consider a lot of factors in proposing player transfer fees. However, the main factor that affects all the others is the performance of the players. Responses gathered also indicate that clubs do not have a specific valuation model to use after considering all the factors to propose transfer fees. Transfer fees inevitably have a speculative dimension. Recommendations made for the study was based on a derived model which considered all the factors that clubs taken into account when proposing transfer fees.