Analysis of the Role of Sport in the Management Textbook: A Study of Sports Images in Organizational Behavious Textbooks from 1992 to 2011

This paper examines a selection of OB (organizational behaviour) textbooks from 1992 to 2012. Using both content analysis and semiotic language analysis, the purpose of this paper is to illustrate how sports images in textbooks—although used to ostensibly explain organizational behaviour concepts—can have implications for addressing issues of gender, race, ethnicity, disabilities, and intersectionality. We conclude that sports images and metaphors (along with other asides, examples, and illustrations) need to be used carefully and reflectively.