Stakeholder Salience and Elements in Decisions to Retain or Change American Indian Nicknames and Symbols at American Universities

Abstract

Decisions about sports symbols on college campuses, such as team nicknames, mascots and logos, are often contentious and involve many stakeholder groups (Connolly, 2000; Farnall, 2004 a, 2004 b). The purpose of this study is to determine the salience of stakeholder groups in the decision to change or retain Native American athletic team nicknames. Mitchell, Agile and Wood (1997) theorize that stakeholder salience is comprised of power, legitimacy and urgency. Researchers applied Mitchell, Agile and Wood's (1997) theory to the case of one university which they followed with a nationwide survey of decision makers at 30 institutions having Native American nicknames or mascots. Alumni were found to be definitive stakeholders with power, legitimacy and urgency while other stakeholder groups possessed only one or two stakeholder salience attributes. Respondents rated presidential readiness as the most important decision factor (M = 4.33 on a 5-point scale). Other highly rated factors were access to, communication with and official support from stakeholders. Results provide support for Mitchell, Agile and Wood's (1997) theory and suggest that university administrators must attend to changes in stakeholder salience, particularly changes in the urgency of a stakeholder's claim.