Factors Influencing Women Entrepreneurs of NGOs in India

This article examines women entrepreneurs in the nonprofit sector. Entrepreneurial activity attracts certain kinds of individuals.Such self‐selection is not a random event but is influenced by personal characteristics as well as socioeconomic and cultural factors. This article examines women entrepreneurs in a particular segment of the nonprofit sector in India to determine which factors influence such self‐selection. Our research confirms findings by other scholars that nonprofit entrepreneurs receive a high payoff from promoting social causes. Furthermore, we find that previous experience in the sector, beliefs, culture, social class, education, and family background also play an important role. We explore some policy implications of our findings.     

Determining person–organization fit for healthcare CEOs: How executive equity sensitivity relates to nonprofit and for‐profit sector selection

This article empirically examines the relationship between the trait of equity sensitivity and employment sector (for‐profit, public, and nonprofit) for senior executives. By controlling for industry (healthcare), we show a relationship between this trait and employment sector in both a single‐state survey and a multistate survey. Findings indicate that benevolents have a propensity to pursue nonprofit positions whereas entitleds are likely to gravitate toward for‐profit positions. Implications for job seekers, employers, and academics are provided.     

Hospice of the Red River Valley: A nonprofit's response to for‐profit competition

Research of nonprofit versus for‐profit competition points to potential quality and access advantages of the nonprofit, tied to shared community values leading to enhanced social capital and legitimacy, whereas the for‐profit is known for cost and scale advantages. However, the prevailing mode of thinking in mixed‐form competitive contexts urges nonprofits to become “more businesslike” and imitate for‐profit attributes. This qualitative study of a nonprofit organization facing new for‐profit competition illustrates that while it is possible and advisable to learn from for‐profit competitors, it is not necessary or even desirable for the nonprofit to abandon its own unique advantages. Although nonprofits should be increasingly sensitive to cost and scale advantages, they do not have to imitate for‐profit attributes and play the low‐cost game. A competitive response to for‐profit challenges that is carefully crafted and executed based on the unique advantages of the nonprofit organization can truly win the day.     

Gendered,Invisible Work in Non‐profit Social Service Organizations: Implications for Worker Health and Safety

Nonprofit organizations (NPOs) play an important role in the provision of health and social services. In Canada the nonprofit sector includes 7.5 million volunteers and employs over 1.6 million paid workers. The sector is overwhelmingly female‐dominated — women make up over 80 per cent of workers in these nonprofit services. Work performed by women has traditionally been undervalued and invisible. It has often been considered safe by researchers, employers, policymakers and sometimes even workers themselves. Although there is some indication that jobs in the restructuring social services sector can be characterized by constant demand, high stress and violence, research into the working conditions and health hazards of these types of jobs has not been a priority. Using data from a qualitative study examining work in NPOs, we trace the ways that work performed in these workplaces is both gendered and invisible. We identify three types of invisible labour. ‘Background work’ facilitates and supports more visible and recognized organizational activities. Certain organizational language obscures the full spectrum of work that takes place in the organizations and the risks it may involve. ‘Empathy work’ includes the relationship building, counselling and crisis intervention that comprise key components of social service delivery. ‘Emotional labour’ involves the management of client emotions and workers' own emotions in the process of working with clients and delivering care under conditions of scarcity and contraction. The invisibility of these activities means that much of the day‐to‐day work done in the organizations, while particularly important in the context of social service restructuring, is taken‐for‐granted and undervalued by organizational outsiders. As a result, many of the hazards present in the jobs are hidden from view and workers' health may be compromised. We argue that the invisibility and taken‐for‐grantedness of certain types of work in NPOs is reflected in, and constitutive of, particular exclusions and shortcomings of current occupational health and safety systems designed to protect the health of workers.     

The importance of sector‐stereotypical images in relation to job pursuit intentions

This study broadens the concept of employer image and demonstrates the relevance of applicants’ sector image when looking for employment in either nonprofit or for‐profit organizations. We apply the Stereotype Content Model to conceptualize image through perceived competence and warmth and use multilevel analyses on data from final‐year Master’s students. Results show the importance of the sector‐stereotypical image and are partially in line with our hypotheses. Job pursuit intentions for specific organizations are predicted by both the organizations’ as well as the respective sectors’ perceived warmth and competence. Pursuit intentions for the for‐profit sector are predicted only by the image of that sector. However, the intention to pursue employment in the nonprofit sector is predicted by both its competence and warmth as well as by the perceived warmth of its organizations. These findings are discussed in view of a trickle‐down effect and compared to previous findings on sector image among consumers.     

A Review of Models for Measuring Organizational Effectiveness Among For‐Profit and Nonprofit Organizations

Induced by unprecedented growth, invasion of for‐profit organizations in the nonprofit domain, and high‐profile cases of mismanagement in the nonprofit sector, a recent surge in the literature suggests ample opportunities for research to compare the organizational effectiveness of for‐profit and nonprofit organizations. This article presents a literature review of nonprofit organizational effectiveness from which four models of organizational effectiveness are selected. These models are discussed and analyzed because they apply to both for‐profit and nonprofit organizations.     

Human capital inflow in nonprofits: Entry‐level employees’ sector shift

Although recruitment and retention of qualified employees are some of the biggest challenges in the nonprofit sector, nonprofit organizations must maintain human capital inflow due to its significant impacts on organizational success. Through person‐organization value fit, this paper explores the factors that influence labor shifts from the public or for‐profit sector into the nonprofit sector in the South Korean context. Specifically, the effects on the likelihood of employees switching to the nonprofit sector from the perspective of eight job satisfaction measures and three education–job match measures are investigated. Two groups of employees (those whose career started in the for‐profit sector and those starting in the public sector) are compared. Results indicate that there is substantial variation between the two groups. In particular, intrinsic job satisfaction has completely different effects on those working in the for‐profit sector than on those working in the public sector regarding their likelihood of having experienced an intersectoral shift into nonprofits. The more public employees are satisfied with intrinsic job rewards, especially job reputation, the more likely they are to move to nonprofits. These results suggest that when employees in the public sector are satisfied with intrinsic rewards they tend to pursue greater intrinsic satisfaction in the nonprofit sector. This paper also reports that education–job match is only significant for those whose first job was in the for‐profit sector.     

Uncharted Waters: Exploring the Relationship between Strategy Processes and Management Control Systems in the Nonprofit Sector

The way in which strategy and management control combine has been the subject of much research attention, but rarely, within a nonprofit context. This is surprising, not only because of the considerable social and economic impact of this sector, but also in view of the apparent trend toward sectoral convergence in many structural and processual respects, including strategic behaviors and approaches to control. In this article, we explore the extent to which the relationship between management control and strategy, as found in for‐profit organizations, may prevail within a nonprofit context. Based on questionnaire responses from 182 Australian nonprofit organizations, we find that this relationship in nonprofit organizations is similar to that in for‐profit organizations, thereby lending support to the “convergence” argument. We reflect on the reasons for these similarities and advance an agenda for further research in this area.     

Wage Inequality and Performance in Nonprofit and For‐Profit Organizations

This article examines the effects of several forms of wage inequality on service quality and employee effort. We suggest that two popular theories, tournament and fair wage/equity, are not necessarily competing. Each theory accurately describes aspects of employee behavior, but because of sectoral differences in organizational objectives and employee attitudes, tournament theory's predictions are relatively stronger in the for‐profit sector, while fair wage/equity theory's predictions are relatively stronger in the nonprofit sector. Using an employer–employee matched data set of nursing homes linked to a federal regulatory database and a resident survey, we found that ownership moderates the relationship between wage inequality and service quality. Although wage inequality positively affects service quality in the for‐profit sector, the reverse is true among nonprofit organizations. We also found that overall wage inequality in the workplace has a more pronounced influence on employee discretionary effort than does the employee's place in the distribution of wages.     

Networking towards (in)equality: Women entrepreneurs in technology

Deploying a multidimensional framework focusing on individual, organizational and societal factors, we investigate gendering practices through which women entrepreneurs become disadvantaged in the technology sector. Through qualitative fieldwork, we focus on women entrepreneurs' experiences networking to access valuable entrepreneurial resources and examine the role of technology incubators and accelerators in facilitating this access. These organizations have the potential to mitigate gender inequities by adopting gender‐aware practices such as increasing access to networks and resources that might otherwise be unreachable for women technology entrepreneurs. Focusing simultaneously on the complex intersections of networking, organizational practices at incubators and accelerators, and institutionalized gender norms in society, we outline how different gendering practices work separately and in tandem to marginalize women technology entrepreneurs. We observe that these organizations engage in ‘gender neutral’ recruitment practices and promote transactional networking which result in the replication rather than eradication of gender inequality. Moreover, organizational attempts to address ‘gender issues’ as they relate to technology entrepreneurs re‐inscribe rather than disrupt societal gender norms. Our research offers new insights for understanding the interrelated individual, organizational and societal factors contributing to gender inequality in technology entrepreneurship and provokes discussion on the possibilities for social change.     

Pathways to sector selection: A conceptual framework for social enterprises

As hybrid organizations with financial and social objectives, social enterprises must balance competing logics for governance, stakeholders, and outcomes when considering organizational design and structure. The existing legal landscape for organizations exacerbates this dilemma by forcing social enterprises to incorporate as either a nonprofit or for‐profit organization. This research examines the entity formation process for social enterprises by presenting sector choice as an interaction among four factors: equity financing, organizational lineage, human capital, and funding environment. Using a qualitative comparative case analysis, this research demonstrates that contingent factors drive sector choice when legal incentives and institutional pressures are unclear. For those choosing nonprofit forms, the status of the parent organization—the organizational lineage—is determinative. For those operating in the for‐profit context, human capital is predictive. The resulting conceptual framework contributes to existing organizational theory on hybrid organizations by presenting the sector selection process as independent of the motives or legal incentives typically associated with sector choice. This research concludes with a discussion on the advantages of delaying the formal sector declaration process.     

Performance evaluations of for‐profit and nonprofit U.S. hospitals since 1980

This synthesis of studies examines whether the published literature shows an evidence‐based consensus on performance differences between private for‐profit and nonprofit hospitals in the United States since 1980. The author systematically and comprehensively surveyed peer‐reviewed publications to clarify this question. The author's second objective was to learn what proportion of all research assessing for‐profit and nonprofit health care providers is devoted to hospitals compared to all other providers. The third goal was to discover how any trends in observed performance differences among hospitals compare with trends among other provider types. Computerized bibliographic searches of all relevant databases yielded seventy‐five studies (ninety‐three assessments) that compared the performance of for‐profit and nonprofit hospitals on four performance criteria: access, quality, cost or efficiency, and amount of charity care. The author coded findings on performance in one of three ways: for‐profit superiority, nonprofit superiority, or inconclusive. Most studies (60 percent) reported that nonprofit hospitals have better relative performance than for‐profit hospitals, clear evidence of their organizational effectiveness. Thirty‐one percent were inconclusive, and 8 percent reported that for‐profits were better.     

Managerial Control and Strategy in Nonprofit Organizations: Doing the Right Things for the Wrong Reasons?

This article presents the second stage of a study that engages with the debate that has occurred within the nonprofit literature about the propensity and relative merits of nonprofit organizations adopting for‐profit approaches to management. Specifically, this qualitative investigation examines the ways in which nonprofit organizations use management control when implementing their chosen strategies. Although this topic has been the subject of considerable attention in the management accounting research, it has rarely been explored within a nonprofit context. This is surprising not only because of the considerable social and economic impact of this sector, but also because of the apparent trend toward sectoral convergence in many structural and processual respects, including strategic behaviors and approaches to control. Based on interviews with CEOs and senior executives in thirty‐two Australian nonprofit organizations, we find that the relationship between strategy and control in nonprofit organizations is similar to that in for‐profit organizations, but quite different reasons underlie nonprofit organizations' exercising of management control.     

Gender,Occupation, and Promotion to Management in the Nonprofit Sector

Although one can assume the work values within nonprofit organizations promote gender equality in promotion decisions, there is preliminary evidence that in the nonprofit sector women are underrepresented in higher management positions. Whereas the mechanisms resulting in underrepresentation of women in management have been studied extensively in for‐profit organizations, little is known about these mechanisms in nonprofit organizations. Is gender in nonprofit organizations—even given the underlying values of these organizations—an impediment to attaining a management position? This article presents a case study of employment patterns within the Dutch section of the humanitarian INGO Médecins Sans Frontières and focuses particularly on the effects of gender and occupation on transitions to management. The case study organization represents a “critical case” because the nature of this organization's work environment can be expected to result in a relatively high percentage of women in management. Employee records (N = 2,247) were analyzed using event history models. We found that women made the transition to management less rapidly than men, even when controlling for factors like age, previous work experience, and nationality. However, gender differences were completely explained by occupation. Those employees in female‐dominated occupations (in this case, medical personnel such as nurses) had a lower promotion‐to‐management rate than those in male‐dominated occupations (in this case, nonmedical personnel such as financial officers), irrespective of their gender. This case study highlights the importance to nonprofit management research of studying the effects of occupational sex segregation on promotion.     

Factors Attracting Individuals to Nonprofit Management over Public and Private Sector Management

Little research has sought to identify the distinct advantages that nonprofits offer employees, particularly managers. Drawing upon Weisbrod's theory of managerial sorting (1988), we test a series of hypotheses about the differences among nonprofit, public, and for‐profit organizations that may explain the preference of managers to work in one sector over the other. We use pooled cross‐sectional data from the General Social Survey to test managerial sorting. We find many similarities in the perceptions of managers in the nonprofit and public sectors as compared to the for‐profit sector. However, when we examine the sorting of managers into nonprofit versus public sector jobs, we find differences in work environment. Compared to those working in the public sector, managers in nonprofits report greater freedom in deciding how to carry out their job functions, more control over their work schedules, and greater opportunities for pay increases. We conclude with a discussion of the implications of these findings for the practice of nonprofit management.     

Do Nonprofits Treat Their Employees Differently? Incentive Pay and Health Benefits

We examine how nonprofit, public, and for‐profit establishments vary in the provision of health benefits and insurance and performance‐based incentives using the 2002 National Organization Survey of establishments in the United States. We found that in comparison to for‐profit firms, both nonprofit and public organizations are less likely to use performance‐based incentives, although they provide their employees with better health benefits and insurance. Sectoral differences in the provision of health benefits and insurance and use of performance‐based incentives persist after controlling for correlates of sector that predict these outcomes, including establishment size, independence of establishment, market competition, establishment age, and unionization. We also found trade‐offs between the provision of health benefits and insurance and use of performance‐based incentives. Our results are generally consistent with the prediction from agency theory and also consistent with a view that public and nonprofit organizations are more concerned with the well‐being of their employees.     

The resilience of the entrepreneur. Influence on the success of the business. A longitudinal analysis

The literature regarding entrepreneurship suggests that the resilience of entrepreneur may help to explain entrepreneurial success. In this article, we test whether a connection exists between resilience dimensions and the success of established entrepreneurs in the Spanish tourism sector, and whether any gender-specific differences exist. Resilience of subjects was measured 5 years before the follow-up data was collected. The results show that the three dimensions of resilience (hardiness, resourcefulness and optimism) help to predict entrepreneurial success. The key factor in predicting the success of the entrepreneur is resourcefulness. This could be said about both men and women. However, the ability to predict entrepreneurial success of those who have hardiness and optimism is different for men and women. The influence of optimism on the success of their businesses is greater for women than for men.     

Which Leadership Constructs Are Important for Predicting Job Satisfaction,Affective Commitment,and Perceived Job Performance in Profit versus Nonprofit Organizations?

As an integrative research effort, the present study critically analyzed the relative importance of six leadership constructs—(1) transformational, (2) transactional, (3) laissez‐faire, (4) consideration, (5) initiating structure, and (6) leader‐member exchange (LMX)—as predicting indicators of leadership effectiveness in the for‐profit versus the nonprofit sector. Based on data from seven samples from the for‐profit and nonprofit sectors, the unique effects of the six leadership constructs were tested on three criteria of leadership effectiveness on the individual level: job satisfaction, affective commitment, and perceived job performance. The results for the for‐profit samples revealed that LMX was the most important aspect for explaining variance in job satisfaction, and initiating structure was most important for commitment. In the nonprofit samples, LMX was the most important aspect of job satisfaction and transformational leadership for commitment. In both for‐profit and nonprofit organizations, initiating structure had the strongest unique impact on perceived job performance. We discuss implications for current leadership research and practical implications.     

DIY Entrepreneurship? – Self‐reliance for Women Refugees in Australia

In this paper, we call for a re‐examination of the self‐reliance ideology based on a neoliberal perspective to make policies for refugee women's (self‐)employment and integration. We use a social constructionist perspective to conduct a narrative analysis of data from the lived experience of twelve women refugee entrepreneurs. Three prominent themes emerge from the women’s own narratives of their entrepreneurial journey – self‐reconstruction, social capital, and resilience. Our findings reveal the complexities of self‐reconstruction and socialization as experienced by refugee women entrepreneurs – for whom “push” factors take precedence over “pull” factors with the explicit understanding that the onus is on them to survive with their own resilience. We argue that offering people hope of a new life means offering them meaningful choices, built on forms of economic activity whose sustainability over the long term is evidenced by the positive supports available to make sure economic activity succeeds.     

Profits and incentive compensation in nonprofit firms

Incentive contracts based on profit sharing, cost reduction, or other measures of performance no longer need to endanger a nonprofit firm's tax exemption; such measures have been urged for adoption in the nonprofit sector. However, the nonprofit differs from the for-profit sector in that contracts have side effects on the solicitation and offering of donations and on the character of those who choose to work in the nonprofit sector. In addition, it is more difficult in the nonprofit sector to obtain an appropriate output measure for use in calculating bonuses.