Civil society organizations in a complex institutional landscape : Investigating institutional logics in Swedish civil society organizations work with social impact measurement

Abstract: The role of civil society has been discussed frequently as of the last decades, and with growing influence of new public management and related market-oriented reforms in public sector, civil society organizations have become welfare service providers too. As part of this development, social impact measurement has been a way for financers to prove and private actors to invest in social change. This thesis takes a closer look at how civil society organizations work with social impact measurement. What institutional logics exist in their work with measuring impact helps understand the complex institutional landscape of Swedish civil society organizations (CSO’s) today.  This master’s thesis contributes to the research field by identifying four institutional logics that Swedish CSO’s relate to and act within in their work with social impact measurement. Further, theories on legitimacy, resistance, and adaptation will help gain a deeper theoretical knowledge of how the CSO’s navigate multiple, conflicting institutional logics. The main findings suggest that external demands on CSO’s to measure their impact on society in rational and economic terms are part of increasing influence of market and professional logic in civil society sector. In their struggle to maintain legitimacy and meet financers demands, CSO’s navigate multiple conflicting logics by adapting and resisting. They integrate demands and values in their civil society logic, try to build competence and mobilize resources to meet demands, collaborate, and opinionate. In line with what research on marketization, professionalization, and hybridization of the third sector suggests, this creates risks for CSO’s to drift from their mission and lose their value as a democratic voice and popular organizer in society.