Diverse institutional analyses in natural resource settings highlight the dominance of exogenous institutions over endogenous ones with sub-(optimal) outcomes. The continued search for optimality signals the need for a theoretical approach to understand the alignment of endogenous and exogenous institutions. To contribute to this theoretical perspective, this paper uses seven community-based forest management settings in the Tsumkwe, East Kavango and West Kavango Regions of Namibia to (i) identify and assess the remnant endogenous cultural institutions (ECIs) and their levels of compliance; (ii) analyze the functioning of key exogenous institutional arrangements governing community-based forest resource use and management; and (iii) explore the potential for a jelled institutional arrangement to shape the future of community-based natural resource management. Data for this study were collected by reviewing policy documents, conducting key informant interviews (n = 10), having focus group discussions (n = 6), and conducting expert interviews (n = 6). Content and thematic analyses of the data yielded several key findings. First, although ECIs remain an integral component of community-based forest management in Namibia, levels of compliance with these institutions vary according to age, gender, and resource characteristics. Older community members exhibit higher levels of compliance with ECIs than younger members. In addition, compliance is significant for subsistence-oriented resources than for market-oriented ones. Second, exogenous institutional arrangements experience weak enforcement, largely due to high transaction costs. Third, institutional jelling, when steered from an endogenous rule-based standpoint, is likely to shape positive outcomes in subsistence-based resource use, whereas those steered from an exogenous rule-based position may shape such outcomes in commercialized resource settings. The insights from Namibia contribute to the ongoing empirical substantiation of institutional jelling as a novel theoretical approach with emphasis on endogenous institution-led roles in shaping subsistence-based resource use systems, and exogenous institution-led roles in steering commercialized resource use and management processes. Policy-wise, emphasis on the jelling of endogenous and exogenous rule-based systems is required to reduce transaction costs linked to sustainable community-based forest resource management in Namibia. As the evidence provided is qualitatively derived, future mixed-methods investigation is needed to empirically ground this theoretical approach in the frame of resource typology and salience, geographical variations in the outcomes linked to (un)jelled institutions, and actor constellations in jelling.