Reliably unreliable: exploring the signals sent by non-profit sport governing bodies’ diversity, equity, and inclusion policies
研究了加拿大757个非营利体育治理机构的多元、公平与包容政策，发现政策标题与目的陈述之间存在信号不一致，可能混淆接收者。
Research Question The purpose of this study was to explore the signals sent from diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies in non-profit SGBs. Two research questions were posed: what signals are non-profit SGBs sending with the content of their DEI policy titles? and how reliable are signals according to the meaning communicated in non-profit SGBs’ DEI policy purpose statements?Research Methods With signaling theory as a frame, documents represented the data source. The websites of 757 Canadian non-profit SGBs were consulted to collect DEI policies, whereby a content analysis (i.e. quantitative and qualitative) was conducted using NVivo 14.Results and Findings Results identified 229 DEI policies within 185 non-profit SGBs, representing 24% of the sample. Within the collected DEI policies, 46 unique title combinations were found compared to 26 unique purpose statement meanings.Implications Signal unreliability between the titles and purpose statements is present in non-profit SGBs, suggesting the signal sent by DEI policies is inconsistent and may confuse receivers. The results emphasize the utility of signaling theory in relation to DEI policies in a federated non-profit SGB context.