To trust or not to trust? Governance of multidimensional elite sport reality

Abstract

The recent reorganization of Finnish elite sport has ended in confusion when examining the goals and modus operandi between key agents in the elite sport system. We investigate the governance of this new structure and ask how this parallel governance structure is understood by agents inside the elite sport system and what is the role of trust and social capital in the combination of centralized and network-based governance? We use an interview sample (n = 16) with key policymakers and agents and questionnaire survey targeting to the national governing bodies of sport (n = 55), with 67% response rate. While use of the network metaphor is shared amongst agents, there is no shared understanding of the governance model. Situated governance-as-legitimacy based on trust and personal relationships is more important than policymakers envisage; personal trust and cumulated individual social capital seems to appear as a more powerful guide to action than system trust.

Keywords:

• Elite sport
• system
• governance
• network
• trust

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.