Fourth and goal: observing organizational change by examining the addition of a football program as an enrollment management strategy at NAIA colleges and universities

The purpose of my research is to study organizational behavior and organizational change among colleges and universities by investigating which schools add football. My interest is in studying why some institutions decided to adopt football, while others choose not to do so? To answer this question, I examined both internal and external institutional characteristics and their potential relationship with the adoption of football.

Findings indicated that both internal and external institutional characteristics were important factors explaining football adoption. Specifically, institutions with higher tuition dependency rates, higher percentage of white students enrolled, presence of a baseball program, and region of the U.S. were significant influencers of adopting football. A higher percentage of women students enrolled decreased the likelihood and institution would adopt football. Finally, there was no evidence to support the influence of admission acceptance rate on the likelihood of adopting football.

This study is important because it provides beneficial information to college administrators about campuses that decided to add a football program. Administrators can use this information to help decide if adding a football program is the correct decision for their campus based on organizational characteristics of institutions that previously decided to adopt football or had not adopted.