The Overlooked Puppeteer - A case study on how LALIGA controls and manages its member clubs' institutional logics through alterations of their performance measurement systems

Abstract: This thesis explores the influence of LALIGA, a renowned football league operating as a meta-organization, on the operational priorities of its member clubs. More specifically, it examines the impact on performance measurement systems and outlines the challenges and tensions arising from the complex meta-organizational structure. Data was collected through extensive interviews with executives and managers from both LALIGA and its Primera División clubs and was subsequently coded and analyzed. The research reveals that LALIGA shifts how its member clubs prioritize and balance performance measures, guided by the dual institutional logics prevalent in football organizations. While LALIGA successfully redirects its members' institutional logics, it also encounters inherent challenges due to the complex nature of such organizations. These challenges include managing the heterogeneity among members, which LALIGA strives to minimize, and dealing with the subsequent issues that arise from these efforts. Additionally, the thesis delves into the difficulties of aligning the individual objectives of the clubs with the collective objective of LALIGA.