ABSTRACT
Social responsibility is defined as the “responsibility of an organisation for the impacts of its decisions and activities on society” (International Standards Organisation, 2010, p. 3). For an organisation to behave in a socially responsible manner, it must meet minimal behavioural standards expected by society by not causing harm to the organisation’s stakeholders and rectifying any harm caused once it is identified (Campbell, 2007). National sport organisations (NSOs) have been defined as overseeing the “administration, financing and strategic development of their sport at the national level” (Kennelly & Toohey, 2014, p. 408). They rely on a “mixture of paid professional staff and volunteers…[and] exist to serve their membership and advance their sport in their place of operation” (Naraine & Parent, 2016, p. 142) and “develop their sport from the grassroots to an elite level…operate under government funding and are regarded as not-for-profit organisations” (Abeza & O’Reilly, 2014, p. 104). Given the centrality of the decision-making power of NSOs within federated sport systems and the subsequent influence of non-executive directors overseeing NSOs, it is important to understand the influence of sport governance practices on the social impact of NSOs and the broader federated sport system.
