Accounting and Sport in a Crisis - Give Sense to Keep Racing?

Abstract: This study aims to explore how the budget is implicated in the process of how organizational members in a sports organization make sense during a crisis. By using the lens of sensemaking theory, an explanatory single case study has been conducted in the Swedish organization RunningCo during the Covid-19 pandemic. Semi-structured interviews have been conducted to answer the research question. Two identified themes in previous literature within accounting and sport have focused on institutional logics and soft budget constraints and external stakeholders, we provide insights to complement these. First, we contribute by showing how the sensemaking strategy compromising and balancing becomes essential in maintaining and prioritizing the sports logic in a crisis as the budget is not used to make the most profitable decision. Second, we contribute to previous literature by showing how the budget in a crisis is primarily used to give sense to external stakeholders by bridging and contextualizing while using the budget for internal financial planning becomes secondary.