College of Education and Human Development

School of Kinesiology

Lisa Kihl

  • Pronouns: she, her, hers

  • Professor, Sport Management; Director, Global Institute for Responsible Sport Organizations (GIRSO)

  • Office Hours

    Wednesdays 11:00am-1:30pm

Lisa Kihl

Areas of interest

Sport management ethics, governance, policy: corruption in sport; athlete representation and governance; corporate social responsibility; and sport integrity.

Degrees

2004 PhD, University of British Columbia, (Canada), Educational Studies

1992 MS Eastern Washington University, Physical Education-College Instruction

1989 BS Lewis-Clark State College, Physical Education

Biography
Research interests

Sport management ethics, governance, & policy:

  • Sport social responsibility
  • Sport integrity
  • Corruption in sport
  • Athlete respresentation and sport governance

My research interest in the intersection of sport management ethics, governance and policy has been strongly informed by my past and current experiences in sport. My research interests focus on the central tenets of ethics, policy, and sport governance. I am interested in sport organizations' social responsibility in the broad sense including governance, integrity, and their role in addressing community social issues. My collaborators and I are working on the concept of a sport integrity system and empirically examining national, regional, and local sport integrity systems.  In relation, I am also investigating corruption and sport organizations. In particular, I am interested in corruption's impact on individuals, organizations, and their stakeholders.  Additionally, my collaborators and I are examining community sports organizations vulnerability to fraud.  In the sport governance realm, we are developing a line of research that examines the meaning of athlete representation, elite athlete representation in global sport governance, and how the type of athlete representation generates power in global sport governance. To round out this intersection of related concepts, my colleagues and I are interested in strategic decision making and sport corporate social responsibility and assessing the quality of professional leagues and teams' social responsibility initiatives. 

Current research projects

  • Sport integrity systems
  • Community sport organizations' vulnerability to fraud
  • Athlete representation and power in elite sport governance 
  • Measuring professional leagues and teams' social responsibility.
Graduate Students

Doctoral advisees:

Completed:

  • Charles Campisi- Globalization and Major League Baseball academies
    Vicki Schull- Female College Athletes’ Perceptions of Leadership in the Context of Intercollegiate Athletics: A Gendered Perspective
  • Guemchan Hwang-Strategic corporate social responsibility and online donation in intercollegiate athletics
  • Jon Steadland- Higher Education Governing Boards and Stakeholder Governance of Intercollegiate Athletics
  • Caroline Heffernan-Gender allyship and social change

Current:

  • Robert Day- developing organizational ethical culture in intercollegiate athletic departments
  • Michael Jonas- social responsibility and evaluation
  • Alice Kang- sport corruption and governance 
  • Kelly Son-sport corruption and governance

Master's advisees:

Completed:

  • Ching-Jen Chang - Cause-related marketing and professional sports teams
  • Nicole Gilmore - Psychological commitment and intercollegiate sports fans
  • Jonanthan Schaefer - Organizational effectiveness and youth soccer associations
  • Xi Chen- Conflict Management: A Case Study of Two Chinese Sports Organizations
  • Ben Schwertner-Strategic decision-making in professional sport organizations

Current:

  • Matthew Hlina- Social responsibility communication in professional sport
  • Ryan Gasper-Vulnerability  to match fixing within intercollegiate athletics
Publications

Kihl, L. A., Misener, K., Cuskelly, G., & Wicker, P. (2021). Tip of the Iceberg? A cross cultural examination of fraud in community sports organizations. Sport Management Review, 21(1), 24-45.

Hwang, G., Kihl, L. A., & Inoue, Y. (2020). Corporate social responsibility and online fan donations. International Journal of Sport Marketing and Sponsorship, 21(4), 597-616

Kihl, L. A., & Schull, V. (2020). Understanding the meaning of representation in a deliberative democratic governance system. Journal of Sport Management, 34(2), 173-184.

Kihl, L. A. (2019). Individual-level explanations of corruption: Understanding why athletic department actors engage in corruption. Journal of Intercollegiate Athletics, 12(1), 43-72.

Babiak, K., & Kihl, L. A. (2018). A blueprint for CSR engagement: Identifying stakeholder expectations and attitudes of a community relations program. Business & Society Review, 123, 119-149

Kihl, L. A. (2018). (Ed.). Sport corruption: Causes, consequences, and reform. Routledge.

Presentations

Wicker, P., Cuskelly, G., & Kihl, L. A., & Misener, K. (May 2021). Vulnerability to occupational fraud in community sport organizations. Paper to be presented at the North American Society for Sport Management (Virtual conference)

Babiak, K., Kihl, L. A., Kikulis, L. M., Lopez, J., & Warner, M. (May 2021). Measuring and evaluating corporate social responsibility in professional sport. Symposium at the North American Society for Sport Management. (Virtual conference)

Kihl, L. A., Misener, K., Cuskelly, G., & Wicker, P. (September 2019). Four country comparison of fraud in community sport organizations. Paper presented at the European Association of Sport Management, Seville, Spain.

Kihl, L. A., Greenhow, A., Gowthorp, L., Adair, D. (October 2019). Elected or self-appointed athlete representatives: A discussion of the different representative roles in elite sport. I facilitated a panel discussion of elite athlete representatives. Play the Game Conference, Colorado Springs, CO.

Kihl, L. A. (September 2019). Conceptualizing a national sport integrity system. Paper presented at the European Association of Sport Management, Seville, Spain.

Heffernan, C., & Kihl, L. A. (May-June 2019). Grounded theory: The misunderstood methodology within sport management. Paper presented at the North American Society for Sport Management, New Orleans, LA

Kihl, L. A., Misener, K., & Cuskelly, G. (November 2018). Exploring occupational fraud in community sport: An international comparison. Paper presented at the Sport Management Association of Australia and New Zealand, Adelaide, Australia. 

Grants

Principal investigator (Dr. Catherine Ordway, Canberra University)

Co-investigators (Dr. Lisa A. Kihl & Dr. Adam Masters, Australian National University)

Mapping the components of local sport integrity system(s): ACT pilot., Discipline of Sport & Exercise Science, Faculty of Health, Canberra University, ACT. Australia (2020)

Amount: $3,000

Principal investigator, Addressing the intersections of sport and education: Evaluating the educational outcomes of a professional sport’s corporate social responsibility initiative.

Children, Youth, and Family Consortium Scholars Program (2014-2015). Amount: $23,000

Kihl, L. A. (Principal Investigator). Minnesota Twins rookie league and reviving baseball in inner cities (RBI) program: Evaluating the effectiveness of gaining inner city participation in baseball and softball. The Minnesota Twins, Minneapolis, MN ($30,000, 2008-2010)