The Antecedents and Consequences of Intercollegiate Athletic Association Change of Colleges and Universities in Canada and the United States

The purpose of this dissertation is to identify and understand the consequences of organizational change. This change features the athletic departments of colleges and universities within the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), and the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) of the United States intercollegiate athletic system, in addition, to the Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) and Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS).;Antecedents and consequences of intercollegiate athletic organizations were achieved by collecting qualitative data from colleges and universities within Canada and the United States that moved from one intercollegiate athletic association to another (i.e., NAIA to NCAA). Organizational change theory, with respect to archetypes and organizational tracks (Hinings & Greenwood, 1988) directed the research questions, data collection, and data analysis. Data collection was shown in two ways, primarily through a qualitative process including interviews with key college and university sources. Secondarily, data was collected quantitatively using archival data to support the responses from interviews (Yin, 1994).;The results of this dissertation uncovered benefits and future challenges facing universities and athletic departments undergoing organizational change to Canadian Interuniversity Sport and the National Collegiate Athletic Association. It was observed that the transitioning athletic associations was an overlooked process by athletic departments in the form of necessary resources (i.e., staffing and funding) and cultural considerations (i.e., values and beliefs of university). Results also showed reasons for leaving the NAIA were not to move toward the potential benefits of the NCAA, but to move away from the deteriorating NAIA. Contributions of this study add to the archetype and organizational track literature by introducing a 'new' track to the existing organizational change model discussed in this dissertation.