The Sporting Life: Exploring Organizations through the Lens of Sport

Abstract

We selectively review the literature from the fields of organizational behavior and sport science with the overarching purpose of identifying and summarizing key themes and contributions. The literature is used to provide insights into the fundamental issues of competition (getting ahead) and cooperation (getting along) in organizations. Studies from the organization sciences that have incorporated individual and team data from the various fields of sport are reviewed and organized by topic into succession effects, motivation and performance, and studies of individual and team performance changes over time. In addition, selected studies from the sport science literature are reviewed from the topic areas of the “hot-hand” effect, choking under pressure, passion for life activities, and difficult career transitions. The evidence presents a clear argument that greater integration across the fields of organization and sport science is needed. Areas of future research consideration with regard to embodied cognition and emotions as well as networked approaches to team processes are proposed.

Acknowledgements

The authors thank Martin Kilduff for insightful and helpful comments on earlier drafts of this paper. This work was partially supported by an Australian Research Council Discovery Project Grant (#1093209) awarded to David V. Day.