Sustainability of National Sport Organisations: a 5Ps conceptual framework

Purpose/Rationale: This paper presents a novel conceptual framework to better understand the multifaceted sustainability demands facing National Sport Organisations (NSOs). It addresses a gap in existing literature by building on the traditional triple bottom line (TBL) – consisting of Profit (which we modify to Propensity), People, and Planet - and then accounting for the unique sport-specific logics of Participation and Performance. This is what we term the ‘5Ps’. These often conflicting but sometimes synergistic sustainability logics interact and shape decision-making.Design/Methodology/Approach: Drawing on institutional logics and complexity theory, we develop a theoretically informed novel conceptual framework consisting of five conceptually distinct sustainability logics. This theoretical approach allows for a holistic analysis of how these interrelated sustainability logics – as context-bound instantiations of broader sustainability demands – operate simultaneously to shape organisational behaviour.Findings: The framework reveals the complexity of the sustainability demands both facing and operating within NSOs, reflecting, in part, their position within wider national and international sporting ecosystem. We outline how these five sustainability demands can act as intertwined logics, influencing organisational strategy and decision-making.Practical Implications: Our findings offer a more holistic understanding for managers and policymakers within NSOs, helping them recognise and strategically manage the competing sustainability demands they face. The framework provides a tool for developing more effective and integrated sustainability strategies that account for complex NSO environments specifically, and not-for-profit/public value sports organisations, more broadly.Research Contribution: This paper contributes to the sport sustainability literature by moving beyond siloed or subset views of the sustainability demands facing NSOs by providing a comprehensive, integrated framework that holistically accounts for the simultaneous and dynamic nature of NSO viability.Originality/Value: This paper advances literature by providing a novel synthesis of sport sustainability, primarily focusing on NSO contexts. It offers a unique lens for examining the dynamic nature of sustainability demands in sport and provides a set of empirically testable propositions to guide future research and practice.