Toward an institutional theory of escalation of commitment within sport management: A review and future directions

•Escalation of commitment theory in sport has grown over the past decade.•Escalation of commitment research has traditionally relied on fiscal indicators.•Sport contexts have shown that institutional factors should be considered.•EoC research should account for institutional structures and logics.Over the past decade, escalation of commitment theory has gained traction and relevance in the sport management literature. The purpose of this paper was to review the current progress of escalation of commitment research within sport management and provide a new perspective for evaluating and researching potential cases of escalation within sport contexts. To this end, the authors proposed a model that accounts for the different institutional logics that likely impact decision-making and evaluations of success. Consistent with previous research of institutions, the authors contend that the perceptions and attached meanings to courses of action should be accounted for when examining escalation of commitment. The implications of this approach and how it addresses shortcomings of previous research are detailed. Finally, the authors provide suggestions for future research of escalation of commitment in sport contexts.