AOM PDW Workshop
Submission: 11856 | Sponsors: (OMT, STR, OB, TIM, RM, ENT)
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USING SPORTS DATA
TO ADVANCE MANAGEMENT THEORY
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Sunday, Aug 2, 2026
8:00AM - 12:00PM EDT (UTC-4)
Sheraton Philadelphia Downtown Hotel in Liberty Ballroom B
PARTICIPATION
PART I (panel): open to all
PART II: by submission, deadline July 8th.
Co-Organizers:
Thomas P. Moliterno, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Alia Crocker, Babson College
Paolo Aversa, King's College London
Publishing rigorous and relevant research in top management journals requires rich and suitable data for investigating challenging and compelling research questions. The surge of accessible sports data in recent years has increased the number of studies that make use of such data to advance management theory. Professional sports are multi-billion-dollar industries comprising large complex organizations worthy of scholarly interest per se. Sports also provide settings in which fundamental themes of competition and cooperation are at play, making them attractive for scholars seeking to advance management theories. However, sports settings combine research opportunities with non-trivial challenges and dichotomies that require further reflection. Sports greatly differ in their nature, and it is not always easy to choose the most suitable sports context to respond to a particular research question. In addition, in sports settings the generalizability of results is less evident than in traditional industries, and readers and reviewers often display skepticism about external validity and generalizability of findings to business contexts. Building on successful editions of this workshop at AOM in previous years, this two-part PDW (1) brings together a panel of scholars to share experience in publishing management research with sports data, and (2) provides developmental paper development session to support scholars that are in the process of using sports data in their projects, or who plan to use sports as an empirical context for their research.
Our PDW will tackle the following questions:
· What kinds of theories can be tested with sport data? Which sport settings are better suited for specific research questions and designs?
· What existing theoretical problems could be tackled with sports data? What could such a research agenda look like?
· What are the typical challenges that scholars using sport data face during the publication process at top-tier management journals? How can scholars overcome them?
· Where can scholars find and how can they obtain sports data for research purposes? What are appropriate methods for testing theories using sports data?
While the first part of this PDW will be open to everyone with no registration required, those who wish to join the Part II of the workshop need to submit a full paper (40 pages max as per AOM Conference paper submission format guidelines) or a proposal (max 5 pages, single-spaced, excluding references and tables). Participation to the first part is not a mandatory requirement to submit to the second part, and vice versa. Please send submissions to t.moliterno@vu.nl .
Deadline to submit your work for the Part II of the workshop: July 20th 2026.
Panelists and Topics
SPECIAL PRESENTATION: "THE EDITOR'S PERSPECTIVE"
Aaron D. Hill (Warrington College of Business, University of Florida). Associate Editor at Academy of Management Journal
PAPER PRESENTATIONS
John-Patrick Paraskevas (The University of Tennessee, Knoxville)
· Context: Professional American Football
· Paper: Brymer, R., Paraskevas, J. P., Josefy, M., & Ellram, L. (2024). Pipeline hiring's effects on the human capital and performance of new recruits. Strategic Management Journal, 45(9), 1822-1850.
Colleen Stuart (Johns Hopkins Carey Business School)
· Context: Professional Ice Hockey
· Paper: Stuart, H. C. 2017. Structural disruption, relational experimentation, and performance in professional hockey teams: A network perspective on member change. Organization Science, 28(2), 283-300.
Alexandre Bitektine (Concordia University)
· Context: World Cup Football (Soccer)
· Paper: Bitektine, A., Dolbec, P. Y., Martins, M., & Kruidenier, S. 2025. Temporary Regulations and Institutional Change: Insights from the Brazilian World Cup Experience. Academy of Management Journal, 68(6), 1168-1206.
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Paolo Aversa
Professor of Strategy | King's College London
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