Creating Organisational Strength from Operationalising Restrictions: Welfare Non-profit Organisations in the Russian Federation

VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations - The work of non-profit organisations (NPOs) in non-democratic country contexts tends to be judged on their contribution to...     

Altmetrics: Finding Meaningful Needles in the Data Haystack

Despite nearly 350 years of practice, we still do a fairly poor job of measuring the quality and impact of scholarly papers and the work of individual researchers. Much of our system for determining funding and career advancement revolves around one metric: the impact factor. Technology has progressed to a point where we can do better. We can now track the life of each individual paper after it has been published and better understand how it is read and how it is used. This creates a tremendous opportunity for new alternative metrics (“altmetrics”) to give us a much better sense of a paper's true impact. At the same time, we are now faced with an overwhelming quantity of information and seemingly unlimited ways to analyze a researcher's work. How do we separate out the digital needles from the haystack—the signal from the noise—and create useful tools for research assessment?     

Regulation as Country‐Specific (Dis‐)Advantage: Smoking Bans and the Location of Foreign Direct Investment in the Tobacco Industry

This paper seeks to examine the relationship between smoking bans and the propensity of tobacco firms to engage in foreign direct investment (FDI). Using international business theory based on the firm‐specific advantage/country‐specific advantage (FSA/CSA) matrix, the authors show that, contrary to what one may expect, smoking bans at home are an important institutional intervention, reducing the propensity for firms to engage in FDI, even to countries without a ban themselves.     

Exploring the Impact of School Discipline on Racial Disproportion in the Juvenile Justice System*

It is widely recognized that African‐American youth are significantly overrepresented in many juvenile justice systems relative to their population percentages. Research has also determined that similar disproportion exists in school discipline and speculated about a “school‐to‐prison pipeline” for minority youth. Objective. This study explores empirically the degree to which disciplinary decisions made in schools can help to explain observed rates of disproportionate minority contact with juvenile courts. Methods. It does so in an assessment of education and justice system data from a sample of counties in Missouri. Results. The findings suggest that racial disproportion in out‐of‐school suspensions, which cannot be explained solely by differences in delinquent behavior, is strongly associated with similar levels of disproportion in juvenile court referrals. The association between disproportionate patterns of school discipline and court referrals persists after controlling for poverty, urbanization, and other relevant factors. Conclusions. The implication is that school‐based programs that offer alternatives to suspension and expulsion and promote disciplinary equity may help alleviate racial disproportion in the juvenile justice system.     

Female leaders and board performance in member‐serving nonprofit organizations

Despite an active stream of “good governance” research, there is not yet much nonprofit scholarship examining how the gender composition of a board or its leadership relates to board performance. This article helps to fill this gap, focusing on the governance practices of US‐based nonprofits serving a domestic or international membership. A structural equation model finds that the presence of female leaders relates to the performance of nonprofit boards both directly and indirectly through these leaders' presumed influence on board characteristics and operation. This research advances the field by empirically testing a longstanding theory that board performance is both multidimensional and contingent on the market and labor environment, organizational capacity and other characteristics—in this case, gender dynamics. We find there are some positive relationships between female board leadership and clearly defined measures of board performance. These findings also suggest that a strategy to balance a board's gender may serve many nonprofits, but gender representation works in tandem with other board characteristics.     

The Effects of Capital Campaigns on Other Nonprofits’ Fundraising

This study focuses on the effects of capital campaigns on the fundraising performance of other nonprofits within the same geographic region. Drawing from research in organizational ecology and charitable giving, we offer a theory of capital campaign impact that says any impact of a campaign must be looked for in a carefully circumscribed area or population of organizations, and that campaigns raise awareness of the need for services within a particular area. We use data on capital campaigns at arts nonprofit organizations in forty‐eight counties across the United States between 1999 and 2007, coupled with financial data on nonprofits in the arts in the same county to test our hypotheses. The results from our analyses show that a major capital campaign positively affects other nonprofits’ fundraising, and the effect varies depending on the phase of the capital campaign. We discuss possible mechanisms that drive the positive effects of capital campaigns, and conclude with a short illustration.     

Challenges and Opportunities of Open Access: A Panel Discussion

This year's panel discussion, moderated by Beverly Dowdy, offered three perspectives on the current and future trends in open access (OA) from David Crotty, a senior editor from a prominent university publisher; Beth Bernhardt, an assistant dean for collection development and scholarly communications at an academic library; and Dr. Paige Hall Smith, an associate professor at a large state university. Each discussed different opportunities and challenges that open access presents. A question-and-answer period followed, prompting further discussion of the points brought up during the presentations, as well as related issues.     

Social Construction and Policy Implementation: Inmate Health as a Public Health Issue*

Objectives. This article develops and tests a concise multi‐stage approach for assessing the impact of social construction on the implementation of public programs designed to benefit negatively constructed groups. The framework suggests that negative constructions lead to policy choices that create problems in the implementation process. These problems prevent the accomplishment of key subobjectives necessary for ultimate program success. Methods. We test the utility of the framework in an analysis of a key public health issue—the spread of HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis in prisons. Despite great strides in the treatment and prevention of these diseases outside prison walls, the incidence and severity of both in the incarcerated population has increased dramatically over the last five years. We hypothesize that the problem of inadequate funding, arising from the negative social construction of this unique target population, is to blame. Results. In an analysis of 50 state correctional systems, we find that states with the most negative constructions of criminals and potential criminals spend dramatically less on inmate health, relative to other states. Conclusions. Our analysis suggests that inadequate funding levels in states with negative constructions of criminals and potential criminals jeopardizes the implementation of prison programs targeted at the prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis.