The impact of the Social Fair Play Project on Spanish Professional Football Clubs’ Corporate Social Responsibility

Abstract

Football followers increasingly demand greater commitment to social responsibility from sports organisations. However, football clubs widely differ in how they fulfil this commitment. To address the observed gaps between larger and smaller clubs and increase Spanish clubs’ social responsibility, Spanish LaLiga launched the Social Fair Play Project (SFP) in 2017. Drawing on institutional theory, this study empirically measures the impact of this institutional driver on corporate social responsibility (CSR) performance among football clubs. We performed a panel analysis using financial, sporting, and CSR data from 2012 to 2021 for 33 first-division clubs. Our findings reveal that the SFP increased CSR performance among these clubs; however, their solvency situation moderated the effect of this soft measure. Accordingly, this study has implications for governing bodies in other football leagues, and its findings should encourage institutional programmes to promote social responsibility among sports clubs.Football followers increasingly demand greater commitment to social responsibility from sports organisations. However, football clubs widely differ in how they fulfil this commitment. To address the observed gaps between larger and smaller clubs and increase Spanish clubs’ social responsibility, Spanish LaLiga launched the Social Fair Play Project (SFP) in 2017. Drawing on institutional theory, this study empirically measures the impact of this institutional driver on corporate social responsibility (CSR) performance among football clubs. We performed a panel analysis using financial, sporting, and CSR data from 2012 to 2021 for 33 first-division clubs. Our findings reveal that the SFP increased CSR performance among these clubs; however, their solvency situation moderated the effect of this soft measure. Accordingly, this study has implications for governing bodies in other football leagues, and its findings should encourage institutional programmes to promote social responsibility among sports clubs.