Conformity to institutional logics and organizational strength of voluntary sport clubs (2024)

The aim of this study was to examine if and under what conditions voluntary sport clubs (VSCs) conformed to the institutional logics of professionalism, consumerism and instrumentalism and whether conformity to these logics increases the organizational strength and resources of VSCs.

Results suggest that VSCs did not strongly conform to the three institutional logics between 2007 and 2021. Results do provide evidence for the relationship between institutional conditions (cooperation with other VSCs, size, experienced competition, degree of competitiveness, own facilities) and the likelihood of conformity. No relationship was found between conformity and self-perceived organizational strength and resources.

Results of this study indicate that conforming to collective beliefs about what constitutes desirable, proper, or appropriate behavior alone -as the neo-institutional view implies- is a limited view for explaining VSCs’ survivability. Furthermore results imply that change into the directions pursued by policy makers does not seem to improve the organizational strength of VSCs. More research is needed to investigate survival mechanisms based on other theoretical concepts in order to understand, monitor and improve the survivability of VSCs.