Image on the internet: Inter-organisational isomorphism in image management by professional soccer clubs

Kai Lamertz, Michael Carney, Francois Bastien

    Research output: Contribution to journalJournal Articlepeer-review

    5 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    A Professional Sport Organizations (PSO) faces the unique challenge of balancing the commercial interests of a business operation with the expressive identification by its fans and stakeholders. As these organisations move onto the global stage, the internet constitutes a powerful medium for managing this challenge because it allows for the simultaneous projection of different organisational images to different audiences. In this paper, we develop a theory of image communication by PSOs using neo-institutional theory and show that inter-organisational homogeneity dominates the way in which English soccer clubs use their websites to communicate about their images to industry, fans, and community stakeholders. Our results suggest that PSOs underutilise the potential for image differentiation offered by the internet.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)242-262
    Number of pages21
    JournalInternational Journal of Sport Management and Marketing
    Volume3
    Issue number3
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2008

    Keywords

    • Corporate communications
    • Cultural industries
    • Institutional theory
    • Organisational image
    • Professional soccer clubs

    Fingerprint

    Dive into the research topics of 'Image on the internet: Inter-organisational isomorphism in image management by professional soccer clubs'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

    Cite this