Agency and Institutions in Sport

This book offers a unique insight into the role of individuals and organisations in shaping institutional arrangements within the context of sport. Institutional approaches can be used to examine the complex relationships between sport organisations and their broader environment and can help explain some of the most fundamental questions about the nature of how sport is organised including why are many sport organisations so similar? Why do they adopt practices that are seemingly irrational? And how can we explain how change occurs within sport organisations?

In drawing upon contemporary scholarship and empirical evidence collected by internationally recognized experts within sport, this book provides a contemporary collection of studies that advances the understanding of agency in institutions through sport. In doing so, the chapters in this book bridge the theoretical divide between mainstream management and sport management to help facilitate a joint venture for future research. This book will be essential reading for advanced undergraduate or postgraduate students on sport or sport-related courses and researchers interested in institutional analysis and its potential application to sport.

The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of European Sport Management Quarterly.

Mathew Dowling is Senior Lecturer in Sport Management, Loughborough University, UK.

Jonathan Robertson is Senior Lecturer in Sport Management, Deakin University, Australia.

Marvin Washington is Professor of Management, University of Alberta, Canada.

Becca Leopkey is Associate Professor in Sport Management, University of Georgia, US.

Dana Ellis is Associate Professor in Sport Management, Laurentian University, Canada.