Relational pluralism, organizational status, and the adoption of collegiate varsity esports programs in the US

Research question: Sport management scholars often draw on institutional theory to examine the adoption of new approaches among sport organizations, but understanding of variation in innovation adoption remains limited. Using a relational perspective to better account for the complexity of the institutional environment, we examine the following questions in the context of esports: how do organizations’ ties to different entities across the field affect the adoption of innovations in sport? And how are these relationships shaped by organizational status? Research methods: Our sample includes 1274 universities and colleges in the U.S. We used event history analysis to investigate the influence of ties to field-level interest associations (i.e. athletic associations) and local-level peer networks (i.e. athletic conferences, state community settings) on organizational adoption of collegiate varsity esports programs. We also examined the moderating role of organizational status (i.e. university/college ranking). With respect to model selection, we used the Cox proportional hazard model. Results and findings: Results show that interest associations and local peer networks have a significant effect on the establishment of varsity esports programs. Additionally, organizational status moderates the influence of different relational ties (i.e. interest associations and peers) on esports adoption. Implications: : This study contributes to the institutional literature on innovation adoption in sport by revealing how relational pluralism and organizational status affect the adoption of new sport programs.