Sports as the New Frontier for Understanding Modern Organizations: Insights from Academy of Management's Latest Research
The intersection of sports and business has long fascinated researchers and practitioners alike, but a groundbreaking new Special Research Forum published in the Academy of Management Discoveries reveals just how powerful sports contexts can be for understanding complex organizational phenomena. This comprehensive collection of studies demonstrates that sports aren't just entertainment—they're sophisticated laboratories for exploring leadership, teamwork, ethics, and performance in ways that traditional organizational research often cannot capture.
Why Sports Matter More Than Ever for Management Research
In our rapidly evolving business landscape marked by digital transformation, social activism, and technological innovation, management scholars face unprecedented challenges in capturing complex organizational dynamics. Sports emerge as a unique solution to this research challenge, offering what the Academy of Management researchers describe as a "microcosm of societal dynamics" that reflects and often leads various social, political, and technological trends.
The sports world provides researchers with an unparalleled wealth of detailed, real-time data across multiple levels of analysis. From GPS-based tracking and biometric monitoring to social media activity and fan interaction metrics, sports generate comprehensive datasets that would be nearly impossible to obtain in traditional corporate settings. This data richness, combined with the high-stakes nature of athletic competition, creates ideal conditions for studying organizational behavior under pressure.
Groundbreaking Findings: When More Talent Doesn't Equal Better Results
One of the most striking discoveries from this research forum challenges a fundamental assumption in talent management. The study "When More is Less: The Role of Social Capital in Managing Talent in Teams" reveals a counterintuitive finding that directly contradicts the widespread belief that "more is better" when it comes to recruiting star talent.
Using data from elite European football teams, researchers uncovered what they termed a "more may be less" effect—teams loaded with star players often performed worse than those with fewer talented individuals. The secret lies not in the talent itself, but in something called social capital, measured through passing networks and team connectivity.
Teams with dense, decentralized networks were able to amplify the benefits of star talent, while those with sparse, centralized configurations actually hindered their efficiency. This finding has profound implications for organizations everywhere: it's not enough to simply hire the best people—you must also create the right social and collaborative infrastructure to help them succeed together.
The Complex Reality of Organizational Misconduct
Perhaps one of the most fascinating studies in the collection examined the Houston Astros sign-stealing scandal, asking a deceptively simple question: did cheating actually help them win? The answer, surprisingly, is no.
Despite widespread assumptions that the Astros gained significant advantages from their elaborate sign-stealing scheme, researchers found no discernible improvement in batting performance due to the cheating, even under conditions where it might have been most advantageous. This unexpected finding led researchers to propose three compelling explanations: conflicts between organizational and professional identities, information leakage to rivals, and disruption of established routines.
This research demonstrates that organizational misconduct doesn't necessarily translate to performance gains—a finding with significant implications for understanding why unethical behavior persists in organizations despite questionable benefits.
The Surprising Benefits of Rule-Breaking (Within Limits)
Another study examined rule-breaking behavior in the National Hockey League, revealing a nuanced relationship between deviance and organizational rewards. Players who committed penalties often received increased playing time, but this preference was bounded in several important ways.
The effect disappeared for extreme rule breakers and during critical moments like playoffs, and was strongest for teams on losing streaks, where visible effort—even if it resulted in penalties—appeared more valued. A follow-up experiment confirmed that moderate rule breakers were perceived as more committed to team success, highlighting how organizations may benefit from tolerating certain types of deviant behavior while recognizing clear boundaries.
Technology, Travel, and Human Performance
The research forum also examined how modern workplace realities affect cognitive performance. A study of Major League Baseball umpires—professional nomads who epitomize business travel—revealed that crossing up to three time zones doesn't significantly impact cognitive performance compared to same-time-zone travel.
However, age emerged as a critical factor: older professionals maintained mental acuity initially but struggled with extended stays, while younger professionals showed initial difficulties but improved over time, particularly after westward travel. These findings provide valuable insights for organizations managing travel-intensive roles and highlight the importance of considering individual factors when designing travel policies.
The Future of Sports-Based Organizational Research
The research forum also identified several underexplored areas ripe for future investigation. These include:
GPS and Spatial Tracking: Real-time data on teamwork, coordination, and decision-making in high-stakes environments could provide insights applicable to organizational teams facing rapid changes or high-risk situations.
Social Media Analytics: Fan interactions parallel consumer and employee engagement, offering opportunities to study brand perception, crisis management, and stakeholder communication strategies.
Intergenerational Collaboration: Sports teams' multigenerational rosters provide natural laboratories for studying mentorship, knowledge sharing, and generational conflicts in organizations.
Automation and Technology Integration: The adoption of automated performance tracking in sports mirrors organizational struggles with technology integration, job security, and productivity in tech-enabled workplaces.
Practical Implications for Modern Leaders
These findings offer several actionable insights for organizational leaders:
Rethink Talent Strategy: Focus not just on individual capabilities but on building the social capital and collaborative infrastructure that allows talent to thrive collectively.
Understand Misconduct Complexity: Recognize that unethical behavior may not always provide the advantages assumed, and consider the hidden costs of such behavior on organizational culture and performance.
Manage Deviance Thoughtfully: Develop nuanced approaches to rule-breaking that distinguish between behaviors that signal commitment and those that threaten organizational integrity.
Design Travel Policies Strategically: Consider age, destination, and trip duration when planning business travel, recognizing that one-size-fits-all approaches may not optimize performance.
Leverage Technology Mindfully: Learn from sports organizations' adoption of biometric data and automated tracking to understand how technology can enhance rather than replace human judgment in performance management.
Conclusion: The Playing Field as Laboratory
This groundbreaking research demonstrates that sports offer far more than entertainment value—they provide sophisticated laboratories for understanding the complexities of modern organizational life. From talent management and team dynamics to ethics and technology integration, sports contexts offer unique opportunities to study phenomena that would be difficult or impossible to examine in traditional organizational settings.
As organizations continue to navigate unprecedented challenges in an increasingly complex world, the insights from sports-based research provide valuable guidance for leaders seeking to build more effective, ethical, and resilient organizations. The playing field, it turns out, may be one of the most valuable classrooms for understanding how organizations truly work.
The next time you watch a game, remember: you're not just observing competition—you're witnessing a masterclass in organizational behavior, complete with lessons that could transform how we think about leadership, teamwork, and performance in any context.
Sources:
Special Research Forum Editorial and Summaries
Aversa, P., Moliterno, T. P., Rockmann, K. W., Bothner, M. S., Sharapov, D., & Eckardt, R. (2025). Exploring new playing fields: Sports settings and management theorizing. Academy of Management Discoveries, 11(2), 145–151. https://doi.org/10.5465/amd.2025.0064
Empirical Studies Featured in the Forum
Downs, A., Mahoney, J., & Somaya, D. (2025). Did cheating help the Houston Astros win? Organizational misconduct, illicit competitive intelligence, and organizational performance. Academy of Management Discoveries, 11(2), [page numbers TBD].
Downie, M., Pachidi, S., Huysman, M., & Hafermalz, E. (2025). On the right track? Studying the use of biometric data to manage people in organizations. Academy of Management Discoveries, 11(2), [page numbers TBD].
Loignon, A. C., Fonti, F., Bagherzadeh, M., Gurca, A., & Shresta, K. (2025). When more is less: The role of social capital in managing talent in teams. Academy of Management Discoveries, 11(2), [page numbers TBD].
Ong, M., & Reynolds, S. (2025). When does rule breaking hurt performance? Evidence from judo, soccer, and organizational settings. Academy of Management Discoveries, 11(2), [page numbers TBD].
Terry, M., McGee, R., Gevrek, Z., & Collings, D. (2025). Just calling balls and strikes: The impact of business travel on cognitive performance. Academy of Management Discoveries, 11(2), [page numbers TBD].
Wakeman, S., Yang, J., & Moore, C. (2025). A (bounded) preference for rule breakers. Academy of Management Discoveries, 11(2), [page numbers TBD].
Key Secondary Sources and Theoretical References
Aversa, P., & Hallila, P. (2021). Sports settings in management research. In R. W. Griffin (Ed.), Oxford bibliographies in management. Oxford University Press.
Carp, S. (2021, June 1). Study: LA Lakers top NBA social media engagement charts for 2021 regular season. SportsPro.
Day, D. V., Gordon, S., & Fink, C. (2012). The sporting life: Exploring organizations through the lens of sport. Academy of Management Annals, 6, 397–433.
Fonti, F., Ross, J. M., & Aversa, P. (2023). Using sports data to advance management research: A review and a guide for future studies. Journal of Management, 49, 325–362. https://doi.org/10.1177/01492063221117525
Hookit. (2019, August 19). Formula 1 midseason social media & sponsorship report.
Minardi, P. (2021, November 2). Formula 1's digital media drives fan engagement. Greenfly.
MVPindex. (2022, August 25). Racing as one: Formula 1 teams collectively generate $259.9M in post value through 13 Grands Prix.
Piezunka, H., Lee, W., Haynes, R., & Bothner, M. S. (2018). Escalation of competition into conflict in competitive networks of Formula One drivers. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 115, E3361–E3367.
Rohrbach, B. (2019, November 20). Lakers fans are NBA's most loyal and engaged, study says. Yahoo Sports.
Scott, M. (2021, October 19). Max discusses Hamilton rivalry and the media circus.
Wolfe, R. A., Weick, K. E., Usher, J. M., Terborg, J. R., Poppo, L., Murrell, A. J., Dukerich, J. M., Core, D. C., Dickson, K. E., & Jourdan, J. S. (2005). Sport and organizational studies: Exploring synergy. Journal of Management Inquiry, 14, 182–210.
