Beyond basketball: corporate social responsibility and institutional logics within the Chinese Basketball Association League

<p dir="ltr">Despite growing global attention to corporate social responsibility (CSR) in sport, limited research has examined how CSR operates within Chinese professional sport. Consequently, CSR practices in China’s unique institutional environment remain poorly understood. As a leading organisation in Chinese professional sport, the Chinese Basketball Association League Ltd. (CBA League) was selected as the case for this study. </p><p dir="ltr">Under ongoing commercial reforms within a traditionally government-led system, Chinese basketball has become institutionally complex. The rise of commercialisation has introduced multiple institutional logics that coexist and at times conflict. As a result, the CBA League faces institutional pressures from diverse stakeholders and must strategically navigate competing logics in its CSR practices. </p><p dir="ltr">To explore how CSR operates in this context, this PhD thesis was guided by three research questions. RQ1: What types of CSR practices are implemented within the CBA League? RQ2: What are the institutional logics and stakeholder expectations in the CBA League? RQ3: How do institutional logics across the institutional field shape CSR in the CBA League? </p><p dir="ltr">This PhD study adopted critical realism as its philosophical foundation and employed a complex mixed-method design. First, social media content (n = 237) from the CBA League’s official WeChat account was analysed using qualitative and quantitative content analysis. Second, 22 semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders were analysed through thematic analysis. Third, a fan survey (n = 419) was conducted, with exploratory factor analysis (EFA) used to identify CSR types, and descriptive statistics used to explore fan perceptions. </p><p dir="ltr">This PhD study identified four distinct types of CSR within the CBA League – nationalist, organisational, public, and environmental – each shaped by different institutional logics. It further revealed how state, business, sport-for-good, and sport-for-competition logics interacted to influence CSR practices. The state logic emerged as the dominant force underpinning legitimacy, while the coexistence and competition of other logics contributed to institutional complexity, which in turn shaped the prioritisation of different types of CSR within the CBA League. </p><p dir="ltr">Theoretically, this PhD study expands CSR scholarship in sport by developing a four-type CSR typology grounded in China’s unique institutional environment and moving beyond the community-based focus dominant in prior studies. It emphasises that explicit and implicit CSR can coexist within a single institutional context. It also contributes to institutional theory by unpacking the dynamic interplay and evolving prioritisation of multiple logics in a transitional sport system. Practically, the findings provide actionable insights for league managers, government officials, business partners, and fans.</p>