Michael Sam
BPE (Alta), MA (New Bruns), PhD (Otago)
Tel 64 3 479 8398
Email mike.sam@otago.ac.nz
Background
Dr Michael Sam is a senior lecturer with the School of Physical Education and teaches organisational aspects of sport and sport/leisure policy. His background is in recreation, having gained much of his teaching/research interests from working at both the municipal and provincial levels of government in Manitoba, Canada. As an active member of the North American Society for the Sociology of Sport (NASSS), Mike presents regularly at its annual conference. He is also currently serving on the editorial board of the Sociology of Sport Journal and the newly established International Journal of Sport Policy.
Research Interests
Research interests broadly encompass areas of policy, politics and governance as they relate to the public administration/management of sport. Past projects have revolved around the making of national policies, noting their processes of development and their impacts on delivery. Michael Sam’s current research focuses on the inherent dilemmas and 'wicked problems’ associated with governing sport. Mike’s also conducts ongoing research on the public deliberation process connected to a proposed new sports stadium in Dunedin.
Selected Publications
Sam, M. P. (in press, April 2012). Targeted investments in elite sport funding: Wiser, more innovative and strategic? Managing Leisure, 17(2).
Keat, R.A., & Sam, M.P. (in press, March 2012). Regional implementation of New Zealand sport policy: New instrument, new challenges. International Journal of Sport Policy and Politics, 4(1).
Scherer, J., & Sam, M.P. (2012). Public broadcasting, sport, and cultural citizenship: SKY's the limit in New Zealand? Media Culture and Society, 34(1), 102-112.
Sam, M. P. (2011). Building legitimacy at Sport Canada: Pitfalls of public value creation? International Review of Administrative Sciences, 77(4), 757-778.
Sam, M. P., & Hughson, J. (Eds.). (2011). Sport in the City: Cultural Connections. Abingdon, UK: Routledge.
Scherer, J., & Sam, M. P. (2010). Policing the cyber agenda: New media technologies and the recycled claims in a local stadium debate. Sport in Society, 13(10), 1469-1485.
Sam, M. P., & Scherer, J. (2010). Fitting a square stadium into a round hole: A case of deliberation and procrastination politics. Sport in Society, 13(10), 1458-1468.
Sam, M. (2010). Sport participation policies in New Zealand. In M. Nicholson, R. Hoye & B. Houlihan (Eds.), Participation in Sport: International Policy Perspectives (pp. 239-253). Melbourne: London.
Sam, M. P. (2009). The public management of sport: Wicked problems, challenges and dilemmas. Public Management Review, 11(4), 499-513.
Scherer, J., & Sam, M. P. (2008). Public consultation and stadium developments: Coercion and the polarization of debates. Sociology of Sport Journal, 25, 1-20.
Sam, M. P., & Scherer, J. (2008). Stand up and be counted: Numerical storylines in a stadium debate. International Review for the Sociology of Sport, 43, 53-70.
Jackson, S. J., & Sam, M. (2007). 'Yes, Prime Minister' and the dilemmas of sport policy. Sport Management Review, 10(3), 307-323.
Sam, M. (2007). Sport policy in Aotearoa/New Zealand. In C. Collins & S. J. Jackson (Eds.), Sport in Aotearoa/New Zealand (pp. 231-246). Melbourne: Thomson-Nelson.
Sam, M. P., & Scherer, J. (2006). The steering group as policy advice instrument: A case of 'consultocracy' in stadium deliberations. Policy Sciences, 39(2), 169-181.
Sam, M. P., & Jackson, S. J. (2006). Developing national sport policy through consultation: The rules of engagement. Journal of Sport Management, 20(3), 365-384.
Sam, M. P. (2005). The makers of sport policy: A Task(Force) to be Reckoned With. Sociology of Sport Journal, 21, 78-99.
Sam, M. P., Batty, R., & Dean, R. G. K. (2005). A transaction cost approach to sport sponsorship. Sport Management Review, 8(1), 1-17.
Scherer, J., Sam, M. P., & Batty, R. (2005). Sporting sign wars: Advertising and the contested terrain of sporting events and venues. International Journal of Sports Management and Marketing, 1(1/2), 17-36.
Sam, M. P., & Jackson, S. J. (2004). Sport policy development in New Zealand: Paradoxes of an integrative paradigm. International Review for the Sociology of Sport, 39(2), 205-222.
Sam, M. P. (2003). What's the big idea? Reading the rhetoric of a national sport policy process. Sociology of Sport Journal, 20(3), 189-213.
To see details of postgraduate students this staff member may be supervising please visit the Postgraduate Profiles section of our website.
Last Updated 1 Feb 2012
