World Anti-Doping Agency: a meta-organizational perspective

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) through the theoretical framework of meta-organizations that focusses on organizations that are themselves made up of organizations.

The data are drawn from a unique case study based on interviews with WADA experts and documentary analysis.

The authors analyzed WADA through the organizational and strategic dimensions of meta-organizations, which are themselves each defined by two criteria: the mission and scope of the organization vs the hierarchical stratification and decision-making process. The findings suggest that the WADA can be examined through the lens of meta-organizational theory. The criterion of consensus in the decision-making process has already been put forward by scholars, but it needs to be nuanced in the study since it is not the only process used by WADA in its decision-making.

The paper enhances the understanding of a specific international sports organization at the heart of current major sports issues and enriches the literature on meta-organizational theory, which is a relatively recent development. A next step is a longitudinal study, focussing on the decision-making process and the evolution of a meta-organization over time.

While the meta-organization has been considered recently in the management literature, this paper seeks to advance the discussion by linking it to the international sports field to gain more insight into its complexity.