David Moura, a lecturer of management, co-authored research that examined an American university’s decision to sell the naming rights for its football stadium to a company that runs for-profit prisons accused of committing human rights violations.
An Elon University faculty member along with colleagues from two European universities conducted a study examining the implications of an American university’s controversial decision to sell the naming rights for its football stadium to a for-profit prison company.
The research investigates the consequences of an organization associating with a highly stigmatized entity.
“Amplifying Stigmatization: Owlcatraz and the naming of a football stadium,” an article co-authored by David Moura, a lecturer of management in the Martha and Spencer Love School of Business, explores the concept of “stigma transfer” and its impact on organizations.
Stigma transfer happens when a previously nonstigmatized organization is targeted and punished by audiences due to their association with a stigmatized actor.
Published in Organization Studies – a Financial Times Top 50 Research journal – the study explores the stigmatization processes triggered after students strongly protested the university’s announcement to sell the stadium naming rights.
Moura and his colleagues used the case to develop a comprehensive process model that provides insights into the complex dynamics of fraught organizational partnerships.
The new model helps explain why partnerships intended to rehabilitate a company’s reputation may inadvertently exacerbate the existing stigma, adversely impacting both the intended subject and the non-stigmatized partner drawn into the negative repercussions.
“I want to use the research in my strategic management course to discuss the complexities that arise in organizational decision-making,” said Moura. “Exploring a university’s decision to be affiliated with a stigmatized for-profit prison company with alleged human rights violations is a compelling example.”
In addition to Moura, article co-authors are:
- Lin Dong, University of Birmingham, UK
- Bryant Ashley Hudson, IÉSEG School of Management, Paris
- Lee Jarvis, IÉSEG School of Management, Paris
Moura joined Elon University in 2019. He currently teaches Gateway to Business and Strategic Management with research interests in strategy-as-practice, organizational stigma and scandal, and government issues in management.
A forthcoming study in which Moura is involved focuses on the South Florida addiction recovery industry scandals and how action or inaction can exacerbate or calm stigma.