Stakeholder Management in High School Athletics: An Individual-Level Analysis.

Abstract

The landscape of high school athletics is changing; participation rates have steadily been increasing, the cost of providing these opportunities is rising, and there is a decrease in state and local education funding. Given this changing setting, traditional as well as non-traditional stakeholders are playing new roles in interscholastic athletics and have begun interacting with athletic directors in unique ways. The aim of this study was to understand the process that athletic director’s engage in to manage these stakeholder relationships. Stakeholder theory and decision-making literature were used to frame the process of stakeholder management from the perspective of athletic directors. A mixed methods approach was utilized; interviews and a questionnaire provided depth and breadth to our understanding of the process of stakeholder management. Results point toward a process of stakeholder engagement that involves stakeholders within the decision-making process on major decisions such as head coaching hires or policy changes. This study contributes to the literature of stakeholder management and participative decision-making in education. Future directions point toward involving more individual level or organizational-level characteristics that may provide insights into possible ties with a stakeholder engagement model of stakeholder management.