Considering the European chambers of commerce as relevant actors and interest groups on the regional level, the paper will discuss empirical and methodological questions. Based on a consolidated cluster analysis of chambers systems in Europe which identified five types of these organisations a theoretical sampling for five cases for an in-depth analysis will be presented including Austria, Germany, Spain, Hungary, and UK. As the research is interested in the internal and external support for the stability and/or change of these interest groups organizations within the frame of the new-institutionalism (Meyer/Rowan 1977; Mahoney/Thelen 2010), it focuses on narratives of legitimacy. The purpose of the research is identifying a typology of respective narratives sustaining or depreciating chambers of commerce. The respective project is in its infancy, thus, methodological questions of comparing narratives as addressed meanings are in the focus of the contribution.
