Achieving organizational de-escalation: Exit strategy implementation among United States collegiate athletic departments

•This study investigated de-escalation exit among eight Division I institutions.•Participants interviewed included decision makers involved in exit implementation.•Importance of providing objective data in a non-consulting manner.•Exit implementation should consider the most timely departure possible.•Decision makers did not engage in impression management.Given the increasing commitment associated with NCAA Division I participation, higher learning institutions in the United States have recently engaged in initial stages of de-escalation behavior, or the reversal of escalating commitment via project termination or redirection. However, difficulty arises upon implementation of the selected alternative exit strategy. Applying escalation of commitment theory, this collective case study explored exit strategy implementation among institutions (N = 8) having achieved organizational de-escalation. Participants (n = 32) included decision makers involved in athletics exit strategy implementation. NVivo 9 was employed for analyzing collected data throughout the course of a three-step coding process. Findings revealed the importance of presenting stakeholders with objective data concerning the true costs of participation in a non-consulting manner. Additionally, exit implementation should consider the most timely departure possible, accounting for project-specific consequences potentially hindering de-escalation achievement. Finally, decision makers at institutions incorporating newly formed athletic-related initiatives did not exhibit impression management in de-institutionalizing the former course of action.