All social science research is challenged by the potential of omitted explanatory variables. We agree that here may be other explanatory variables, particularly intervening variables (e.g., investments in player development), that explain our findings. Unfortunately, we did not have access to such data over time on each NFL team organization. Several features of our research permit us to infer that there is, in fact, a relationship between the presence of a critical mass of women executives and reduced numbers of player arrests:
- A strong dataset that contains 12 years of team organization data and player arrests that revealed a statistically significant relationship between having a critical mass of women executives and reduced player arrests. Other team organization variables, such as team win percentage, that we might have expected would relate to player arrests, did not.
- Important control variables were included in our model to rule out alternative explanations for our findings. These include year, team win percentage, region of the country in which the team is located, number of employees, and the proportion of women in management.
- We build upon previous research on demographic composition and firm outcomes (Ali & Konrad, 2017; Hunt, Layton, & Prince, 2015; Joshi & Roh, 2009; Matsa & Miller, 2013; Tsui & Gutek, 1999; Zhang, Zhu, & Ding, 2013).
- We have a strong theoretical argument for our hypotheses. Specifically, we draw upon upper echelons theory, which emphasizes the key role played by TMT executives in organizational decision making (Carpenter, Geletkanycz, & Sanders, 2004; Hambrick & Mason, 1984), as well as critical mass theory (Kanter, 1977; Torchia, Calabrò, & Huse, 2011), which explains how women must be represented sufficiently in an organization for them to affect change. We also rely on intergroup relations theory to recognize and understand conceptually the gender-related dynamics at the upper levels of a men’s professional sport team organization. We theorize that the presence of a critical mass of women executives influences employee misconduct through three avenues: (1) changes to workplace culture; (2) the shaping of strategic priorities, and (3) improved strategic decision making.
With sufficient numbers of an underrepresented group such as women, it becomes possible for group members to push back on negative pressures and stereotypes, build coalitions, participate more fully in conversations about strategic priorities, and contribute ideas and perspectives to the decision making process (Allport, 1954; Chesterman, Ross-Smith, & Peters, 2005; Konrad et al., 2008; Pfeffer, 1981; Kossek & Zonia, 1993; Torchia, Calabrò, & Huse, 2011; Wahid, 2019).
Please see the complete version of the paper for full information on the works cited.
Player arrests are a visible indicator of player misconduct that is accessible publicly via the USA Today database. Little research has examined off-the-job misconduct of high-profile employees, nor has misconduct research considered the role of women on top management teams. We acknowledge the limitations of the player arrests variable here.
We developed a theoretical rationale for, and conducted similar analyses on, the relationship between having a critical mass of the racial/ethnic minorities and player arrests. Almost all minority executives in the team organizations were African-Americans, as identified by reports from the Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport, University of Florida. We found no significant association between the presence of a critical mass of minority executives (both women and men) and player arrests.
The Editor asked us to move the race/ethnicity analyses to the paper’s Appendix, and this is where the empirical results on race/ethnicity can be found. We were torn about this decision because we believed that we had a solid theoretical rationale for why there should be a negative relationship between the presence of minority executives and player arrests (i.e., the presence of a critical mass of minority executives will result in fewer player arrests). A second reason this issue concerned us is because empirical examination of NFL team organizations seems incomplete without examination of the effects of minority executives, given that 68% of the players are African-Americans (Besttickets.com, 2014). Our very skilled Editor on the paper felt that the need to focus the paper outweighed these concerns and, in the end, we concurred.
We are sensitive to the risk of stereotyping professional football players as poorly behaved because of the extensive news media coverage of NFL player arrests; pervasive, negative stereotypes about African-American men in particular; and the sometimes easily accessed social media content related to the misconduct. The arrests in the data include both Black men and White men. We strongly discourage discussion of the study as an indictment of NFL players. As we state in the paper introduction, NFL players actually have lower rates of arrests than the U.S. general population (Leal, Gertz, & Piquero, 2015).
In addition, we try to contextualize NFL players’ situations by referring to “the complex adjustment and social pressures experienced by NFL athletes (Carter, 2009).” The Carter study documented how it is not uncommon for individuals who join NFL teams to be faced with a number of personal and professional challenges, including the loss or alteration of social support systems.
We have developed this website to encourage interested readers to consider our full paper to understand what our study is and is not able to conclude empirically. The study is an examination of player arrests at the team level, for purposes of understanding organizational factors, such as top management team gender composition, that affect the number of arrests that a team experiences.
Carter, E.M. (2009). Boys gone wild. Lanham, MD: University Press of America, Inc.
Leal, W., Gertz, M., & Piquero, A.R. (2015). The national Felon league?: A comparison of NFL arrests to general population arrests. Journal of Criminal Justice, 43(5), 397-403. DOI: 10.1016/j.jcrimjus.2015.08.001
Seventy-one of the 324 arrests (21%) in our data involved domestic violence. We could locate no national statistics for domestic violence arrests as a proportion of total arrests. However, as best we can tell, we believe that our data are representative of a general population because they are in line with the incomplete national statistics that we were able to locate:
- FBI statistics indicate that about 15.4% of all men’s arrests are for domestic violence (inferred from statistics on murder, rape, assault, and crimes against children and families).
- FBI data indicates that arrests nationally for domestic violence peak during the 25-29 age group, with the next highest domestic violence arrest rates for ages 20-24. These age groups are substantially represented in our NFL player data. For this combined age group 20-29, the inferred proportion of arrests that are due to domestic violence average 17%.
Note that the FBI data appear to be the most comprehensive available but its website notes that not all police jurisdictions report these statistics.
Sources:
Federal Bureau of Investigation. 2018. Crime in the United States, Table 39: Arrests, Males, by Age. Downloaded on May 17, 2020.
Dr. Graham has a Ph.D. in Industrial and Labor Relations from Cornell University and is a Professor of Sport Management at the David B. Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics at Syracuse University. Dr. Graham is an expert on management and organizations, and she has over 20 peer-reviewed scholarly papers on these topics.
Dr. Walia has a Ph.D. in Economics from Kansas State University and is an Assistant Professor of Public Health at the David B. Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics at Syracuse University. Dr. Walia is an expert on economics, and statistical modelling and analysis. She is also part of a research team examining concussions among football players.
Mr. Robinson is an attorney licensed to practice law in the District of Columbia. He earned his J.D. and sports law certificate from Tulane Law School, where he coached their alternative dispute resolution team. He began work on this study as a sport management undergraduate student at Syracuse University. He most recently spent two seasons working in the Brooklyn Nets front office, specializing in salary cap management, and collective bargaining agreement compliance.
Dr. Graham is a long-time Buffalo Bills fan, from all the way back to the Joe Ferguson era. Dr. Walia is a fan of the Cincinnati Bengals. Mr. Robinson played Center at Freedom High School in Northern Virginia, and the Philadelphia Eagles are his team.
Most of the data are publicly available from internet sources as listed in the Research Methodology section of the paper. Data on team organization size and the proportion of women in management were obtained via a confidentiality agreement with the U.S. Department of Labor* and these are not publicly available.
* The first two authors accessed the data on employer EEO-1 filings as unpaid researchers on temporary assignment with EEOC through an Intergovernmental Personnel Act (IPA) agreement. As part of this agreement, they entered into a confidentiality agreement which prohibits disclosure of any individual team organization data.
Yes, we have a rich database that will lend itself to future studies. Three studies that are planned include:
- A study of racial profiling and NFL player arrests;
- Examination of team organization culture and its effects on player arrests;
- Qualitative interviews with NFL and NBA team organization executives to examine their decision-making processes.
For more information, please contact Dr. Mary E. Graham at megraham@syr.edu.