Field Approaches to Institutional Change: The Evolution of the National Collegiate Athletic Association 1906–1995

Abstract

This article uses qualitative and quantitative data to examine the institutional change of an interest association. Interest associations are unique institutions in that they may be more concerned with membership growth than with economic gain. However, these associations play a vital role in the social control and evolution of organizational fields. After a discussion of the theoretical literature on institutional change, I examine the change of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) as it competed for dominance in the US collegiate athletic field with a contender institution, the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics. I hypothesize, and find support for the claim that to contend with the competing institution, the NCAA changed by changing its membership criteria. In the early period of the NCAA, it was a place for only high-status schools. After 1952, the NCAA attracted lower-status schools, which were previously not interested in joining the NCAA. This study advances institutional theory using qualitative and quantitative evidence to examine how a major interest association emerged and transformed itself in order to maintain control over field structuration.