College Football Recruiting: The Role of Relational Rivalry in Factor-Market Competition.

This article empirically investigates the theory of factor-market competition (FMC), focusing on how relational rivalry—defined by rival salience, capability to contest, and status similarity—affects the intensity of competition between firms for critical resources. Using the recruitment of high school football players by NCAA Division I football teams as a case study, the research finds that rival salience significantly increases FMC intensity regardless of resource quality, while capability to contest influences FMC primarily for high-quality resources. Status similarity shows a complex relationship, with status-similar firms competing more for lower-quality resources but less for high-quality ones. The study also confirms that structural factors such as direct product-market contact, strategic group co-membership, and geographic proximity positively relate to FMC. These findings extend FMC theory by incorporating psycho-social relational factors and resource quality, offering insights relevant to strategic management and inter-firm competition for human capital.