Abstract

In this chapter, we study the management of responsibility and sustainability in for-profit, public, and non-profit Finnish sports organizations. To better understand the perceptions and current cases on responsibility and sustainability in sports organizations, we collected interview data from managers. The results revealed that responsibility and sustainability are understood as ambiguous, interrelated, and often problem-oriented concepts. Responsibility is most often realized in practices and experiences of social interaction within Finnish sports organizations. Yet, responsibility and sustainability may raise conflicting tensions when social and environmental aspects of responsibility are optimized. In addition, the measurability and evaluation of the responsibility goals should be enhanced, especially from the point of view that the proactivity of measures and operating culture would be emphasized instead of reacting to further problems and grievances. We conclude that in Finnish sports organizations, we need more understanding of different organizational logics that are prevailing within the sports interlinked with responsibility and sustainability and what motivates sports organizations to work toward responsibility on a continuous basis.