Suchergebnisse

In Profit-Unternehmen ist strategischer Wandel in der Regel Aufgabe der Unternehmenszentrale. Das entspricht den Annahmen gängiger Strategietheorien: Wer strategisch führt, ist hierarchisch übergeordnet und kann eindeutige Ziele formulieren. Im Gegensatz dazu sind in Nonprofit-Unternehmen die Zentralen den zu führenden Einheiten meist hierarchisch untergeordnet. Zudem müssen...

This qualitative field study examines how volunteering and managerialism shape the organizational identity of six patient organizations from six different European countries. Volunteers represent a large part of the workforce in most voluntary associations. Even though the phenomenon of volunteering is becoming more and more important for organizations and society alike, so far it has only been studied at the individual level. The authors draw on the theoretical concept of dual organizational identities to describe the two differing collective self-descriptions that were present in the patient organizations. Drawing on 34 narrative interviews and focus groups, the authors document the differing perceptions of volunteers and paid staff about their organization's identity and show how the conflicting dimensions— volunteer identity and managerial identity —result in intraorganizational conflict.

AbstractNonprofit organizations face increasing pressure to change their governance practices. Some scholars propose a check‐and‐balance relationship between the board chair and the executive director. However, empirical evidence for this proposition remains lacking. Employing actor‐centered institutionalism, this comparative case study analyzes the preferences and capabilities of the board chair and the executive director given environmental and organizational pressure. The article compares the results of two main and two replicated cases that underwent significant processes of governance change, which led to a replacement of the board chair and the executive director. After the replacement we observe in all cases a similar pattern in the governance power relation: This power relation is characterized by the actors' equivalent capabilities and complementary preferences. The article concludes by introducing a cooperative power relation model that specifies the concept of checks and balances between the board chair and the executive director.

This article presents results of an embedded comparative case study about central strategists realizing strategies in a large nonprofit organization characterized by decentralized and inverse structures. Inverse structures lead to a paradoxical situation in which strategists of a nonprofit's central office have to make deliberate decisions about resource allocation while having no authority over the implementation of strategic decisions. Legitimation is a crucial element in the creation and realization of new strategies. The authors thus ask the question: How do strategists achieve the legitimation and realization of strategies without formal authority? The findings show that, in all of the observed four strategies—also in the process of formalization—strategists of the central office built on emergent strategies that they supported in their legitimation by three steps: Strategists supported the strategy's negotiability (pragmatic legitimation), continued supporting its reasonability (moral legitimation), and finally its comprehensibility (cognitive legitimation).

Securing financial sustainability through fundraising and other forms of financing is a critical issue for many nonprofit organizations. This article extends the benefits theory by adding beneficiary and organizational characteristics to it and examines how these characteristics affect revenue source composition. Based on a survey of International Nongovernmental Organizations (INGOs) with headquarters in Switzerland, the results quantitatively demonstrate a predictive relationship between programmatic and financial management: First, Swiss-based INGOs' revenue sources rely heavily on income-generating revenue sources. Second, the efficacy of the benefits theory of nonprofit finance is demonstrated outside of the organizational context of U.S. local/national nonprofits. Third, INGOs' organizational and beneficiary characteristics influence their revenue source composition. Fourth, the results demonstrate clear differences between revenue sources. Fifth, overall, the beneficiary field is the most influential of the proven characteristics in determining revenue source percentages.

AbstractDonors increasingly expect international nongovernmental organizations (INGOs) to prove that the organizations' economic development interventions alleviate poverty. Currently, many INGOs search for new methods to meet this demand by focusing on the expectations of donors rather than those of beneficiaries. We analyze the benefit of qualitative, context‐specific methods and ask the question: What can an economic development intervention contribute to poverty alleviation from the perspective of the beneficiaries? In our case study, a negative economic valuation was not automatically a reason to evaluate the economic intervention as a failure. Assessment thus cannot be reduced to economic impacts. Also, qualitative approaches can add beneficiary‐oriented data in a context in which accountability mainly focuses on donors. This beneficiary orientation likely leads to better accountability negotiations with donors. Three hypotheses introduce these results.

The more nonprofits become challenged by resource shortages, the higher the demand for highly skilled executive directors. Nevertheless, we do not yet fully understand what motivates executive directors to work in nonprofits challenged by market forces. This article explores the career context and individual biographies of executive directors. Introducing a career field and career capital approach to the study of careers in nonprofits, we analyze what influences the career of executive directors of German faith-based social service organizations. The results of 23 interviews and four focus groups with 60 participants are twofold. First, four types of career capital influenced the executive directors' career: Experience of solidarity, orientation to social service, skills for executive function, and leadership by appointment. Second, all careers were highly influenced by the experience of solidarity. The article ends by explaining why experience of solidarity is important for training and selecting nonprofit executive directors.