Advancing nonprofit organizational effectiveness research and theory: Nine theses

Drawing on the general literature on organizational effectiveness, the specialized literature on nonprofit organizational effectiveness, and recent research in the field, this article advances nine theses, or conclusions, about the effectiveness of public benefit charitable, nonprofit organizations (NPOs). NPO effectiveness is (1) always comparative, (2) multidimensional, (3) related to board effectiveness (but how is not clear), (4) related to the use of correct management practices but not in any simple “best practices” way, and (5) a social construction. Furthermore, (6) it is unlikely that there are any universally applicable best practices that can be prescribed for all NPO boards and management, (7) organizational responsiveness is a useful organizational‐level effectiveness measure, (8) distinguishing among types of NPOs is important and useful, and (9) level of analysis makes a difference in researching and understanding effectiveness. The article concludes by considering implications for organizational practice, boards and governance practices, program evaluation, including program outcomes assessment, and capacity building and capacity builders.     

Strategizing in NPOs: A Case Study on the Practice of Organizational Change Between Social Mission and Economic Rationale

This article presents the main results of a longitudinal case study of a strategic change process in a cooperative bank. Pursuing both a “social” mission and an explicitly economic rationale, this particular nonprofit organization provides an exemplary research setting for inquiring into the delicate and contradictory interplay of mission focus and commercial imperatives. Departing from the practice perspective as a micro-view on everyday strategizing—an approach that seems to have not found its way into NPO-research yet—allows us to take an in-depth look at how people go about the process of making strategy despite the tensions between mission and profit. Our data yields three patterns of strategizing practices that aim at fostering economic growth without damaging the social mission, namely supporting diverse positions, protecting stabilized relationships, and relating to organizational experiences. Building upon our empirical results, we tentatively conceptualize “balancing practices” as potentially important acts of strategizing in NPOs.     

Resource Dependence Patterns and Organizational Behavior/Structure in Korean Nonprofit Organizations

This article examines the relationships among the three dimensions of resource dependence patterns (RDPs) and organizational formalization and goals in nonprofit organizations (NPOs). These three RDPs (that is, the appearance of the financial resource inflow) are resource dependency, resource diversity, and resource competitiveness. The empirical findings suggest that high dependency on government funding (high resource dependency) is positively associated with organizational formalization, although resource diversity does not have any explanatory power on organizational behavior and structure, and that a very competitive environment for resource acquisition significantly affects goal setting in NPOs. In particular, resource competitiveness well explains goal clarity and goal change in NPOs. NPOs with high resource competitiveness present clearer organizational goals or missions and are likely to experience frequent goal change.     

Volunteer Motivation and Organizational Climate: Factors that Promote Satisfaction and Sustained Volunteerism in NPOs

Keeping volunteers committed and engaged is one of the toughest challenges for NPOs. The aim of the present study is to investigate the individual and organizational factors that promote volunteer satisfaction and, vice versa, foster intentions to quit. Two hundred forty-seven volunteers operating in four different NPOs were asked to fill in a self-report questionnaire that aimed to explore their motivations to volunteer, their degree of satisfaction and their perception of the organizational climate in the NPO they worked with, in addition to providing details of the activities which they were involved in. Results showed that the organizational climate mediates the relationship between autonomous motivation and satisfaction, as well as that between external motivation and intentions to leave an organization.     

Organizational Antecedents of Pay-for-Performance Systems in Nonprofit Organizations

The applicability of pay-for-performance systems (PfP-systems) in nonprofit organizations (NPOs) is discussed controversially both in literature and in practice. Existing theoretical models emphasize the importance of the employee’s motivation and output control for the effectiveness of PfP-systems. However, empirical evidence on which factors influence PfP-system’s introduction in NPOs is still lacking. Based on an exploratory study of nine Austrian NPOs, this paper develops hypotheses on what organizational factors distinguish NPOs that rely on PfP-systems for managing employees’ performance differences from those that use alternative approaches (e.g., job enrichment, NPO-spirit). Findings suggest that decisions on the application of PfP-systems are influenced by five determinants: perceived degree of competitiveness regarding funding and service provision; degree of strategic freedom; clarity of strategic objectives; existence of management instruments; and organizational culture.     

Structures and processes in intermediary nongovernmental organizations: Research evidence from Northern Ireland

This article reports the results of an exploratory study of the organizational characteristics, functions, and roles of intermediary nonprofit organizations selected by the European Union to deliver global grant funding in relation to its Special Support Programme for Peace and Reconciliation in Northern Ireland. The results show that the main factor for determining organizational processes is the need to respond to conflicting pressures from two directions: upward to funding agencies and downward to community groups. This produces contradictory demands that are imported into the organizations as a set of internal tensions. The different structures and capabilities developed by the organizations to maintain unity and integrity in response to these tensions are explored and related to differences in the perceived role of the organizations.     

Strategic Action Fields in US Higher Education: The 1939 Mercer University Heresy Trial

This paper uses Fligstein and McAdam's (2012, 2011) theory of the strategic action field, or “SAF,” to highlight the ways in which individuals can act within cultural and material constraints to shape social processes. It applies these concepts to the Mercer University heresy trial of 1939, in which a group of students backed by fundamentalists from the conservative Protestant movement accused members of the University's faculty of unbelief. By understanding the organization, the social movement, and the higher education industry as “SAFs,” the theory explains how the trial reached its unusual outcome, and suggests implications for broader understandings of organizational change.     

Success and Failure of Nonprofit Organizations: Theoretical Foundations,Empirical Evidence,and Future Research

Success and failure of nonprofit organizations (NPOs) have been prominent themes in the nonprofit community for more than 30 years. However, since there is no common understanding on success and failure of NPOs, the research field is still fragmented. Drawing from research on organizational success and failure in the for-profit context as a theoretical background, this paper systemizes the academic knowledge on NPO success and failure. By shedding light on theoretical approaches used, empirical evidence on the determinants of these constructs, and the sectors analyzed most frequently in this regard, the paper develops an instructive research agenda concerning studies on success and failure of NPOs.     

Resource Dependence In Non-profit Organizations: Is It Harder To Fundraise If You Diversify Your Revenue Structure?

This article explores how fundraising efficiency is affected by changes in diversification of revenues in non-profit organizations. It uses random effect regression and Arellano–Bond models to study this phenomenon in a sample of 10358 US non-profits during the 1997–2007 period. We find a negative impact on fundraising efficiency when NPOs alter their locus of dependence and change their pattern of diversification. This effect is impacted by organizational size and industry. Previous studies have suggested that income heterogeneity is associated with organizational stability and financial strength. Using a change (versus level) model of funding diversity, our work shows that increased diversification leads to a higher operational inefficiency that could be penalized by potential donors.     

The Impact of Voluntary Association Characteristics on Selective Attraction and Socialization*

The voluntary organization literature has viewed the processes of selective attraction and socialization almost exclusively as a function of individual characteristics rather than organizational characteristics. Using data from two voluntary associations. we found that organizational characteristics (goal specificity, change orientation, and restrictiveness) were associated with the degree of selective attraction and socialization of attitudes. After controlling for the compositional characteristics of the membership, these data suggest both an organizational and an individual effect on socialization and selectivity. We concluded that the organizations studied here were more of a means for the support of attitudes held prior to joining than a means for developing or changing attitudes through membership. Further research might examine what role different voluntary associations play in the structuring of attitudes, providing a greater understanding of both individual and organizations.     

‘Have You Got a Boyfriend or are You Single?’: On the Importance of Being ‘Straight’ in Organizational Research

The article focuses on heterosexuality as a covert feature of organization studies as well as of organizational research. In fact, while organization studies have discussed the gendered and the gendering aspects of organizational practices and organizational theory, the implication of heterosexuality has yet to receive intensive analysis in these fields. And while the mutual and reflexive constitution of the observer and the observed has been the topic of a considerable amount of research, the dimension of (heterosexual) desire in this process of mutual constitution is still largely unexplored. Referring to three different episodes that occurred while the author was doing organizational ethnography, the article suggests that a heterosexual model of desire is called into action both in organizational and research activities and that focusing on it can be an occasion to question not only the gender (and heterosexual) biases of organizational practices but also the way in which gender and sexuality are mobilized while doing research. In particular, on the basis of the concept of cathexis, the article shows how heterosexuality is learnt and enacted as a situated practice and through a variety of processes: performing power, negotiating and displaying that one belongs to an organizational culture, obscuring the hetero‐normativity of professional identities and neglecting the emotional engagement that characterizes research activities and that exposes the researcher to an otherwise vulnerable position.     

Mapping the Level of Development of Grassroots NPOs in China

Grassroots NPOs have emerged in China in large numbers. Although knowledge about the Chinese nonprofit sector, especially its relationship with the government is accumulating, knowledge regarding the operations of the grassroots NPOs is lacking. This study reviewed the level of development of 78 South China grassroots NPOs involving in rural education. By collecting organizational information on the NPOs’ products, structure and management, governance, human resources, finance and marketing, we developed a framework to assess their capacity. Based on organizations’ performance in the six domains, they were categorized into four different groups: the amateur do-gooders, the start-up charities, the grassroots in transition, and the aspiring young NPOs. We described the key characteristics of each group, and discussed how government policy and organizational leaders’ attitudes influenced organizations’ behavior and development. The assessment tool can be used to guide organizational capacity building in the future.     

Organization in the crowd: peer production in large-scale networked protests

How is crowd organization produced? How are crowd-enabled networks activated, structured, and maintained in the absence of recognized leaders, common goals, or conventional organization, issue framing, and action coordination? We develop an analytical framework for examining the organizational processes of crowd-enabled connective action such as was found in the Arab Spring, the 15-M in Spain, and Occupy Wall Street. The analysis points to three elemental modes of peer production that operate together to create organization in crowds: the production, curation, and dynamic integration of various types of information content and other resources that become distributed and utilized across the crowd. Whereas other peer-production communities such as open-source software developers or Wikipedia typically evolve more highly structured participation environments, crowds create organization through packaging these elemental peer-production mechanisms to achieve various kinds of work. The workings of these ‘production packages’ are illustrated with a theory-driven analysis of Twitter data from the 2011–2012 US Occupy movement, using an archive of some 60 million tweets. This analysis shows how the Occupy crowd produced various organizational routines, and how the different production mechanisms were nested in each other to create relatively complex organizational results.     

The Architecture of Complexity

In this paper we reflect on organizational space and its implications for organization and management. In contrast to dominant discourse in management and organization theory we address the ways in which corporate buildings, as social objects, provide a materiality to organization. Developing the concept of the architecture of complexity, we focus on space as the precondition of processes of organizing. The productive power of space lies in its potential to create and trigger complexity, as it pre-structures movement and flows of communication. Reflecting on two concrete spatial organizations (the fold and heterotopia) we suggest that the interplay of order and disorder and inside/outside relation, which these spaces provide, are spatial preconditions of organizational change and creativity.     

The Importance of Source and Credibility Perception in Times of Crisis: Crisis Communication in a Socially Mediated Era

Social media are invaluable sources of information during organizational crises. Although recent research confirms this fundamental role in crisis communication, this article is aimed at deepening the understanding about the role of the source of information in this socially mediated era by comparing the organization and the employee as communicators. As social media lack traditional gatekeeping processes, dynamics of both source and content credibility are assessed. The findings, based on an experimental design, advocate that judgments of organizational reputation are not only dependent on the crisis-response strategy, but also depend on the source and perceptions of source and content credibility.     

From Game Protection to Wildlife Management: Frame Shifts,Organizational Development,and Field Practices

One enduring question in social movements research is the relationship between cultural representations and organizational structure. In this article, we examine the development of different discursive frames over time, and how such frame shifts affect movement structure and practices. This approach seeks to illuminate the dialectical interplay between the movement community's discursive frame and its practices, and thus expand our understanding of the process of social movement growth and change. Through a close qualitative and historical analysis of a discursive shift within the hunting community of the United States in the 1930s from a focus strictly on game protection to a more expanded discursive frame of wildlife management, we show how this cultural shift led to major changes in both the organizational structure and advocacy goals of this social movement. We conclude with a discussion of how this process can be further studied.     

Managing Organizational Emotions: Framing Feelings of Illegitimacy in the Radical Women's Prison Movement

Abstract

This article examines how activists manage the potentially deleterious emotions that arise in social movement organizations. Using data from a case study of an organization in the contemporary radical women's prison movement in California, I explore how feelings of illegitimacy are managed and sublimated by activists, during the course of organizational life, to sustain participation in the movement. Drawing on framing theory, I find that organizational frames serve as mechanisms that manage and focus activists' feelings, delimit movement strategies, and inspire and legitimate collective action.     

Managing Multisite Nonprofits

Multisite nonprofit systems are organized in a variety of ways, ranging from central control to local control. Regardless of where a system falls along this organizational continuum, inevitable tensions emerge in the relationship between headquarters and the local organization. The purpose of this article is to understand the causes of these tensions and to offer management action that, regardless of the organizational structure, leads to greater system cohesion. Our exploration was facilitated by intense field research at five multisite systems: Outward Bound USA, Planned Parenthood, Habitat for Humanity, SOS Kinderdorf, and The Nature Conservancy. Our investigation suggests that multisite system behavior may be mapped on two dimensions—one that exerts forces toward unit autonomy and the other influencing the degree of organizational affiliation. These forces are associated with a host of organizational functions that are the traditional domains of management to influence and shape and thereby enable a multisite nonprofit to simultaneously optimize the benefits of organizational affiliation and unit autonomy.     

Social Justice Approach to Community Development

This article presents a case study examining nonprofit board and director roles in the first 5 years of an organization’s life, using 3 organizational change approaches: contingency, life-cycle, and cognitive-interpretive. Data include monthly board meeting minutes and director’s reports for the first 5 years of a nonprofit human service agency’s existence. The article concludes that although all 3 theoretical approaches are productive explanatory frameworks for organizational change, each one, on its own, is incomplete. The findings point to the need for further theoretical synthesis and paradigm elaboration to inform our understanding of nonprofit director and board relationships.     

Nonprofit entrepreneurial orientation: A systematic literature review and conceptual framework

The purpose of this study is to propose a set of factors that characterize the manifestation of entrepreneurial orientation (EO) in nonprofit organizations (NPOs), and we performed a systematic review of the literature. Initially, 17 studies were identified in different databases, and after a full reading of the documents that met the objective of this study, we selected and qualitatively analyzed 14 theoretical and empirical studies about EO in the nonprofit context. The studies analyzed allowed us to understand the characteristics of organizational entrepreneurship in NPOs, through the dimensions of innovativeness, proactivity, risk‐taking, autonomy, and competitive aggressiveness, in addition to the reciprocity dimension, which emerged from the literature. By adding reciprocity as the sixth dimension of the EO construct, it was possible to group a set factors related to each dimension which, after being refined, supported the proposition of a conceptual framework for an empirical analysis of entrepreneurial behavior in different contexts of NPOs. This study contributes to the systematization of factors that configure the manifestation of EO in the nonprofit sector, by proposing a conceptual framework entailing six dimensions of EO and propositions for future studies.