Exploring Institutional Dynamics: Barriers and Opportunities for Health Through Sport
Abstract
This thesis explored how multisport service organizations (MSOs) have responded to the institutional pressure to incorporate health into organizational practice. A qualitative exploratory methodology underpinned by an institutional theoretical framework facilitated a snapshot understanding of the institutional environment within the Canadian sport landscape. Data was collected from online document and policy sources, and later analyzed using Hartwig and Dearing’s (1979) two-step exploratory data analysis process. First, institutional theory was applied to capture the institutional change, institutional pressure, and organizational response within the Canadian sport sector. In a second round of analysis, data was re-expressed using archetype theory. Organizations were classified according to a Canadian Sport Policy (CSP)(2012) objective typology and the MSO response was revisited. The institutional environment was found largely marked by regulative pressures, and organizations most often responded with defiance. The findings suggest that system-level structural and financial mechanisms may be restricting MSO’s capacity to comply to health-oriented institutional pressures.