Paper published in Journal of Management History

Now that the World Cup is over and summer is coming to an end, we at Soccer Mad Boffins think it a good time to reflect on a few achievements from the past few months.

As usual, we shall publish a summary of all our summer speaking events and conferences soon, but before that we'd like to bring your attention to a paper published recently in the Journal of Management History, in which we look at the institutional logic of professional soccer clubs and how attempts to work with local government were frustrated by the particular character of professional sport, using the near-bankruptcy of Middlesbrough football club in the 1980s as a case study.

In the paper we propose two concepts: 'Shadow Hybridity' and 'Institutional Logic of Professional Sport' which extend existing theories about organizational hybridity and also institutional logic.  

The paper should be of interest to anyone studying these areas, as well as sports and public management more generally.

The paper can be found by clicking on this link although you or your institution will need a subscription to the journal in order to read it.


Here is the full abstract and citation details:

Purpose

Existing studies of the finance of English Association Football (soccer) have tended to focus on the sport’s early years, or on the post-1992 Premiership era. The authors examine a case from the turbulent 1980s charting the struggle for economic survival of one club in a rapidly changing financial, economic, political and demographic landscape. The purpose of this paper is to examine not only the financial management of a football club during this time, but also the interventionist role of the local authority during this turbulent period.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors investigate the financial difficulties of a sport business, Middlesbrough Football and Athletic Company Limited, examining the broader economic context, drawing on unseen archival sources dating from the 1980s to analyze the relationship between club, local and national government and the regional economy.

Findings

They not only examine the financial management of the football club but also analyse the interventionist role of the local authority in supporting the club which had symbolic value for the local community.

Practical implications

This paper is relevant to policymakers interested in the provision of local sports facilities and the links between elite sport and participation.

Originality/value

The authors show that professional sports clubs are driven by a different institutional logic to state organizations and the findings enable them to define these differences, thereby refining Thornton et al.’s (2012) typology of institutional orders. Furthermore, the case study highlights practices involving informal partnership between state and sport that the authors label as shadow hybridity.

Keywords:

Cross-sector collaboration, Institutional logic, Hybrid organizations, Professional sport, Public sector intervention

Citation:

Alex G. Gillett, Kevin D. Tennent, (2018) "Shadow hybridity and the institutional logic of professional sport: Perpetuating a sporting business in times of rapid social and economic change", Journal of Management History, Vol. 24 Issue: 2, pp.228-259, https://doi.org/10.1108/JMH-11-2017-0060

Come and see the Soccer Mad Boffins in Middlesbrough

We are pleased to announce that we will be presenting our research on Middlesbrough Football Club at the Urban Leisure Conference organized by the British Society of Sports History's North East and Yorkshire Network on Saturday November 14th, at Teesside University.  Our paper reports on the relationship between Middlesbrough FC and its local authorities in the 1980s and draws on previously unpublished archival sources as well as our forthcoming book chapter and world cup book. Registration will be at 10am and at 10.30am there will be a keynote by the esteemed football writer Harry Pearson.  Our presentation will be at 11.45am. The event is free to attend and you can book here - http://www.tees.ac.uk/sections/whats_on/events_details.cfm?event_id=7824 - We look forward to seeing you there!