The role of accounting and accountability in the professionalization of grassroots voluntary sports organizations

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the role of accounting and accountability in the transition of amateur and volunteer-based grassroots sport organizations (GSOs) to professionalized entities. Design/methodology/approach This progression to professionalized sport organizations informs our understanding of how competing institutional logics can create tensions when the ability to uphold traditional values is threatened. The process of professionalization was formalized by a field-level governance reform and has been driven by growth of the grassroots membership. Accounting and accountability acted as a medium for the integration of the logic of professionalism into the organizations existing amateur sport logic, resulting in organizational hybridity. This integration was selectively mobilized, highlighting the role of volunteer leadership in the professionalization of amateur sport. A case study method was used in which nine semi-structured interviews with long-time volunteer-led volleyball grassroots volunteer sport organizations were conducted. Findings This study contributes to the literature on amateur sport management by highlighting the role of accounting and accountability in logics, furthering our understanding of institutional complexity resulting from the competing logics of amateurism and professionalism. Research limitations/implications The exclusion of representatives from Provincial Sport Organizations (PSOs) and National Sport Organizations (NSOs) is a limitation to this study as only one level of the amateur sport structure was analyzed. A multi-level perspective would provide insights into how accountability across the entire amateur sport structure affects the professionalism of VSOs. Similarly, this study focused on only one sport. The study of other amateur sports in Canada and elsewhere would further our understanding of the conflicting institutional logics in sport organizations. Originality/value GSOs can fall under the descriptive of a hybrid organization that has been exposed to long-term institutional pluralism requiring them to incorporate competing logics over an extended period. This was found to occur to varying degrees based on the actions of the volunteer leader who mobilizes the logic, the environment and the method by which the logic was introduced to the organization (e.g. trusted volunteer).