The Role of Governance in Balancing Conflicting Institutional Logics in a Canadian Credit Union A Thesis Submitted to the College of Graduate Studies and Research In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Public Policy in the Johnson-Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy University of Saskatchewan Saskatoon By Kathleen J. Johnson Copyright Kathleen Joanne Johnson, December, 2015. All rights reserved. PERMISSION TO USE In presenting this thesis in partial fulfillment of the requirements for a Master’s degree from the University of Saskatchewan, I agree that the Libraries of this University may make it freely available for inspection. I further agree that permission for copying of this thesis in any manner, in whole or in part, for scholarly purposes may be granted by the professor or professors who supervised my thesis work or, in their absence, by the Head of the Department in which my thesis work was done. 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Requests for permission to copy or to make other uses of materials in this thesis/dissertation in whole or part should be addressed to: College of Graduate Studies and Research University of Saskatchewan 107 Administration Place Saskatoon, Saskatchewan S7N 5A2 Canada i ABSTRACT Credit unions are traditionally small, community-embedded and co-operatively-owned financial services organizations that developed to correct various market failures. Recent changes to regulatory policy in the financial services industry in Canada, coupled with advances in technology and urbanization of the population, have led to numerous mergers and consolidations among credit unions, particularly in Western Canada. This has the potential to undermine some of the historic benefits of CUs when compared to other financial services organizations, as it may require credit unions to begin to operate more like banks. My thesis provides a detailed examination of how senior leaders in one large Western Canadian credit union are handling these issues, and explores what the broader implications might be for policy and governance of credit unions in Canada. Using data collected through semi-structured interviews with top management and board members, this study provides insight into senior leaders’ perceptions of and responses to competing institutional logics in a credit union. Implications for policy, as well as decision-making surrounding co-operative governance, strategy, and structure will be discussed. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am sincerely grateful for the patience, guidance, and support from my Supervisor, Dionne Pohler and my Advisory Committee members, Murray Fulton and Lou Hammond Ketilson. This work was supported financially through a scholarship from Nexen Incorporated, my supervisor’s Grandey Scholar research grant, and the Johnson Shoyama-Graduate School of Public Policy. iii LIST OF TABLES Table 1 - Provincial CU Insurance Providers and Regulators .................................................................... 15 Table 2 - Top 10 Canadian Credit Unions .................................................................................................. 20 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1- Centralized CU Organizational Structure .................................................................................... 34 Figure 2 - CCU’s Organizational Structure ................................................................................................ 41 iv CONTENTS PERMISSION TO USE ................................................................................................................................. i DISCLAIMER ............................................................................................................................................... i ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................................................. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ......................................................................................................................... iii LIST OF TABLES ....................................................................................................................................... iv LIST OF FIGURES ..................................................................................................................................... iv CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................ 4 1.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................... 4 1.2 Regulatory Policy in Financial Services and Governance of Credit Unions ................................ 5 1.3 Empirical Problem ........................................................................................................................ 6 1.4 Theoretical Contribution ............................................................................................................... 9 1.5 Purpose of Thesis ........................................................................................................................ 11 1.6 Organization of Thesis ................................................................................................................ 12 CHAPTER 2: CREDIT UNIONS AND THE FINANCIAL SERVICES INDUSTRY ............................. 13 2.1 Chapter Overview ....................................................................................................................... 13 2.2 The Canadian Financial Services Industry .................................................................................. 13 2.2.1 Chartered Banks .................................................................................................................. 13 2.2.2 Financial Crown Corporations ............................................................................................ 14 2.2.3 Credit Unions and Caisses Populaires................................................................................. 15 2.3 The Credit Union Difference ...................................................................................................... 17 2.4 Regulatory Changes .................................................................................................................... 18 2.5 Growth Response ........................................................................................................................ 20 2.6 Governance Response ................................................................................................................. 22 2.7 CU Decision-Maker Response .................................................................................................... 22 CHAPTER 3: THEORETICAL CONTEXT .............................................................................................. 25 3.1 Chapter Overview ....................................................................................................................... 25 3.2 Institutional Logics ..................................................................................................................... 25 3.2.1 Hybrid Organizations .......................................................................................................... 25 3.2.2 Conflict in ILs ..................................................................................................................... 26 3.2.3 Factors Influencing the Respective Strength of ILs ................................................................... 28 1 3.2.3.1 The Strength of Competing Logics ....................................................................................... 28 3.3 Governance ................................................................................................................................. 31 3.4 CU Governance Basics ............................................................................................................... 34 3.5 Recent Variations ........................................................................................................................ 35 3.5.1 Ensuring board competency ................................................................................................ 35 3.5.2 Navigating complexity ........................................................................................................ 36 3.5.3 Reflecting membership diversity ........................................................................................ 37 3.5.4 Reinforcing democracy ....................................................................................................... 37 CHAPTER 4: METHODOLOGY .............................................................................................................