The governance crucible

This study explores how institutional logics are enacted and recalibrated within corporate governance amid legitimacy challenges and organisational change. Set in Slovenia’s posttransition banking sector, it combines a symbolic–material ontology of institutions with a dual distinction between identity-based logics, grounded in values and organisa- tional purpose, and activity-based logics, rooted in operational practice and performance. Drawing on elite–expert interviews and governance artefacts, the analysis traces how these logics interact across three phases of governance transformation—state stewardship, privatisation, and postprivatisation resilience. The findings show that governance is not merely a technical control system but a meaning-laden crucible where legitimacy is continually constructed and reinterpreted through leadership, decision routines, and institutional objects such as rules, metrics, and narratives. The study contributes to institutional logics research by demonstrating how identity and activity logics blend and evolve in practice and offers practical insights for governance actors seeking to sustain legitimacy and resilience in institutionally complex, historically layered environments.