Orchestrating institutional complexity and performance management in the performing arts

Abstract

This paper investigates the integration between institutional complexity and performance management in the field of performing arts. Prior research has documented tension related to how performance measures and management tools are used in arts organizations, and the conflict is often explained as being a result of the intrusion of business‐like accounting tools into the exercise of the arts. Drawing on the concept of institutional logics, the findings of the current study suggest that a diversity of logics is salient in this organizational field. The performance measurement system is confronted with multiple logics, and the study shows how the role of performance management is shaped by this institutional complexity.