Responses to multi-level institutional complexity in a national sport federation

Pedras, L; Taylor, T; Frawley, S

Responses to multi-level institutional complexity in a national sport federation

Pedras, L Taylor, T

Frawley, S

Permalink

Publication Type:: Journal Article
Citation:: Sport Management Review, 2019
Issue Date:: 2019-01-01

Closed Access

	Filename	Description	Size
	Pedras Taylor & Frawley (2019) SMR Corrected Proof .pdf	Published Version	1.03 MB	Adobe PDF	View/Open

Copyright Clearance Process

Recently Added
In Progress
Closed Access

This item is closed access and not available.

Full metadata record

Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Pedras, L	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Taylor, T https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8847-7692	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Frawley, S https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7552-3856	en_US
dc.date.issued	2019-01-01	en_US
dc.identifier.citation	Sport Management Review, 2019	en_US
dc.identifier.issn	1441-3523	en_US
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/133913
dc.description.abstract	© 2019 Sport Management Association of Australia and New Zealand National Sport Federations are responsible for governing all aspects of a sport within their respective countries. In developing and promoting their sport National Federations must respond to multi-level complexity arising from internal stakeholder needs and commercial, government and social demands. While organisational complexity responses have been extensively researched, little of this work has considered the unique positioning of sport federations. Drawing on the theoretical perspective of institutional logics and complexity, the authors adopted a case study approach to investigate Triathlon Australia's response to its complex operating environment, conducting 18 in-depth semi-structured interviews with current and former board members, chief executives, senior managers, and government representatives responsible for national sport policy and funding. Interview data were complemented with an examination of Triathlon Australia's annual reports and Australian government policy documents (1998–2016 period). Four themes and several organisational responses’ themes emerged from the inductive and iterated thematic data analysis: (a) external complexity – alignment, diversification, transcendence, negotiation; (b) interstitial complexity – empathy, formalisation, collaboration, specialisation; (c) internal complexity – division, balance, leverage; and (d) emotions – connection, harness. Driven by quasi-insolvency and admission into the Olympic programme, and national government policy requirements for funding, Triathlon Australia responded to its complex environment by embracing all logics, designs and agendas, unravelling new ways to solve or mitigate it via hybrid responses. Implications for both theory and practice are outlined.	en_US
dc.relation.ispartof	Sport Management Review	en_US
dc.relation.isbasedon	10.1016/j.smr.2019.05.001	en_US
dc.subject.classification	Sport, Leisure & Tourism	en_US
dc.title	Responses to multi-level institutional complexity in a national sport federation	en_US
dc.type	Journal Article
utslib.for	1503 Business and Management	en_US
utslib.for	1504 Commercial Services	en_US
utslib.for	1505 Marketing	en_US
pubs.embargo.period	Not known	en_US
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Business
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Business/Management Discipline
utslib.copyright.status	closed_access
pubs.publication-status	Published	en_US

Abstract:

© 2019 Sport Management Association of Australia and New Zealand National Sport Federations are responsible for governing all aspects of a sport within their respective countries. In developing and promoting their sport National Federations must respond to multi-level complexity arising from internal stakeholder needs and commercial, government and social demands. While organisational complexity responses have been extensively researched, little of this work has considered the unique positioning of sport federations. Drawing on the theoretical perspective of institutional logics and complexity, the authors adopted a case study approach to investigate Triathlon Australia's response to its complex operating environment, conducting 18 in-depth semi-structured interviews with current and former board members, chief executives, senior managers, and government representatives responsible for national sport policy and funding. Interview data were complemented with an examination of Triathlon Australia's annual reports and Australian government policy documents (1998–2016 period). Four themes and several organisational responses’ themes emerged from the inductive and iterated thematic data analysis: (a) external complexity – alignment, diversification, transcendence, negotiation; (b) interstitial complexity – empathy, formalisation, collaboration, specialisation; (c) internal complexity – division, balance, leverage; and (d) emotions – connection, harness. Driven by quasi-insolvency and admission into the Olympic programme, and national government policy requirements for funding, Triathlon Australia responded to its complex environment by embracing all logics, designs and agendas, unravelling new ways to solve or mitigate it via hybrid responses. Implications for both theory and practice are outlined.

Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item:

http://hdl.handle.net/10453/133913