Formation of legitimacy in sport in local decision-making: explaining local politicians’ and administrators’ perceived justification of sport in Finnish municipalities

Research on sport governance has extensively explored the political and administrative obstacles to legitimacy-building in sport that influence the execution of public sport policy. Local decision-makers perceived justification of sport is addressed utilising a framework grounded in Max Weber’s rational-legal legitimacy. Drawing on large survey data from 1523 politicians and sport officials during two consecutive election periods (2013–16 and 2017–20) in Finnish municipalities, the results from a logistic mixed-effects model indicate that decision-makers’ perceptions were shaped by the local political and administrative hierarchies. Moreover, asymmetry in perceptions between the politicians and officials was explained by the value attributed to sport as a decision-making area and having sufficient sport-related knowledge. Features of rational-legal legitimacy accounted for a notable part of local decision-makers’ perceptions of justifications for sport as formal hierarchies and rational decision-making emerged as crucial factors in shaping legitimacy in sport. The results highlight the need for systematic research to focus on uncovering specific contexts while investigating the various layers of governance.