The Board of Directors in an Arts Organisation: How Co-Existing Institutional Logics Limited the Board's Strategic Contribution

Abstract

Even though there has been a growing research interest in the boards of directors’ strategic contribution in arts organisations, we need more knowledge about how such boards work with strategy. In this paper, we report on a qualitative case study exploring how the board of directors in an arts organisation worked with strategy. We followed the board’s work over 18 months through board documents, observations of board meetings and interviews. We found that the board engaged more with strategy control than strategy development. We interpret this finding applying institutional logics which acknowledges the plural rationalities of arts organisations. We suggest that the emphasis on strategic control was a result of an implicit ranking of co-existing logics. The art logic was ranked highest in strategy development, limiting the board’s strategic contribution, while the public logic was highest ranked in strategy control, allowing the board to make strategic contributions.