Abstract
Institutional research increasingly suggests that organizations are not passive recipients of institutional demands. Organizations can adopt a variety of strategies, including dismissing, decoupling, and co-opting, in response to pressure to change. Over time, organizations likely adopt different approaches, particularly as the institutional field continues to evolve. Through a longitudinal case study of the National Football League's responses to player concussions, we investigated shifts in how a powerful sport governing body responds to institutional change over time. We found that the National Football League moved through different responses, from more reactive strategies-including dismissing, decoupling, and acquiescing-to proactive attempts to control institutional change. Using data on the National Football League, we offer propositions about the factors that may influence organizational responses. This study advances understanding of powerful sport governing bodies' responses to institutional change.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 497-513 |
| Number of pages | 17 |
| Journal | Journal of Sport Management |
| Volume | 31 |
| Issue number | 5 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 2017 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:The investigation of the deaths led to significant research findings regarding the effect of concussions. In particular, Dr. Bennet Omalu’s autopsy of Mike Webster led to the landmark discovery of the first case of CTE in a former NFL player’s brain (Omalu et al., 2005). Later Dr. Omalu, a forensic pathologist and chief medical officer for San Joaquin County, examined CTE in Strzelczyk’s and Long’s brains, and linked their NFL careers to brain damage. Following Dr. Omalu, other researchers, such as Dr. Kevin Guskiewicz, found evidence of the relationship between repeated concussions and later-life cognitive impairment, depression, and dementia (Guskiewicz et al., 2005, 2007). Researchers secured more support and funding, including from the National Institutes of Health, to build a research infrastructure around concussions: In 2007 the Sports Legacy Institute was founded, and in 2008 Boston University created the first research center on CTE.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2017 Human Kinetics, Inc.
Keywords
- Institutional change
- Institutional theory
- Organizational responses
- Sport governing body