The IPC as a change-maker? Insights from the institutional theory

Authors

  • Simon Gérard Faculty of Business and Law, Coventry University (United Kingdom) and Faculté des Sciences de la Motricité, Université catholique de Louvain (Belgium)
  • Thierry Zintz Faculté des Sciences de la Motricité, Université catholique de Louvain (Belgium)

Keywords:

Institutional change, Institutional work, Power, Paralympic Movement, Processual analysis

Abstract

The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) increasingly becomes a key actor in the sport movement, yet its organizational development remains under-researched. This paper explores how the IPC, since its creation in 1989, emerged from the margins of the “able-bodied†sport movement and developed new sport opportunities for para-athletes. To do so, the literature in institutional entrepreneurship is investigated as well as the two concepts of institutional boundaries and practices. Methodologically, the research is based on content analysis of archival records. The study reveals two main stages during which the IPC significantly transformed the legitimated boundaries and practices within the sport movement. Based on this analysis, some of the key institutional challenges the IPC is currently facing are highlighted and discussed.

Author Biographies

Simon Gérard, Faculty of Business and Law, Coventry University (United Kingdom) and Faculté des Sciences de la Motricité, Université catholique de Louvain (Belgium)

Simon Gérard (PhD) is lecturer in sport management in the Faculty of Business and Law at the Coventry University (United Kingdom) and a research associate in the Olympic Chair Henri de Baillet-Latour in Management of Sport Organizations (Belgium). He was also a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Ottawa (Canada). His research is oriented towards the organizational theory and institutional change in major international sport organizations, with a special interest for the Paralympic Movement.

Thierry Zintz, Faculté des Sciences de la Motricité, Université catholique de Louvain (Belgium)

Thierry Zintz (Prof.) is a professor of Sports Organisations Management at the Faculty of Sports Sciences of the Université catholique de Louvain (Belgium). He is in charge of the Olympic Chair Henri de Baillet Latour – Jacques Rogge in Management of Sport Organizations at the same university. In this framework, he is a senior researcher and member of the Center for Research in Entrepreneurial Change and Innovation Strategies (CRECIS). His research is oriented towards the governance of sport governing bodies and their social responsibilities, as well as towards the institutional change in major international sport organizations. He is the director of the MEMOS in English, an Executive Master in Management of Sport Organizations, organized by the International Olympic Committee and twelve universities in the world.

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Published

2017-10-31

Issue

Section

Articles