The study of diversity in nonprofit organizations is at a nascent stage. Using a grounded theory process centering on the racial composition of Girl Scout troop members and volunteers, this study proposes a two-pronged theory of diversity in voluntary organizations. Building upon Adler and Kwon’s three aspects of social capital—opportunity, motivation, and ability—the study concludes that even when sufficient opportunity and mission-based motivation exists, social capital of the bridging type will likely be insufficient to sustain interactions among diverse members. To remedy this problem, the theory suggests that a voluntary organization can first rely upon the bonding type of social capital to increase representational diversity, then structure mission-relevant interactions among diverse members to create bridging social capital, and sustain pluralistic diversity. New directions for research and practice are also discussed, with the theory indicating that many nonprofits possess characteristics favoring the creation of bridging social capital.
Adler, P. S., & Kwon, S. (2002). Social capital: Prospects for a new concept. Academy of Management Review, 27(1), 17-40.
2.
Berger, P., & Luckman, T. (1966). The social construction of reality. London: Penguin Press.
3.
Bolino, M., Turnley, W., & Bloodgood, J. (2002). Citizenship behavior and the creation of social capital in organizations. Academy of Management Review, 27(4), 505-522.
4.
Bourdieu, P. (1986). The forms of capital. In J. Richardson (Ed.), Handbook of theory and research for the sociology of education (pp. 241-258). New York: Greenwood.
5.
Briggs, X. (2003). Bridging networks, social capital, and racial segregation in America (Faculty Research Working Paper Series, #RWP02-011). Boston: Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government.
6.
Brown, J., & Duguid, P. (1991). Organizational learning and communities of practice: Toward a unified view of working, learning and innovation. Organization Science, 2(1), 40-57.
7.
Brown, W. A. (2002). Racial diversity and performance of nonprofit boards of directors. Journal of Applied Management and Entrepreneurship, 7(4), 43-57.
8.
Carrell, M., & Mann, E. (1995). Defining workforce diversity in public sector organizations. Public Personnel Management, 24(1), 99-112.
9.
Coleman, J. (1990). Social capital. In Foundations of social theory (pp. 300-321). Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.
10.
Cox, T. H. (1991). The multicultural organization. Academy of Management Executive, 5(2), 34-47.
11.
Cox, T. H. (1994). Cultural diversity in organizations: Theory, research and practice. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler.
12.
Cox, T. H. & Blake, S. (1991). Managing cultural diversity: Implications for organizational competitiveness. Academy of Management Executive, 5(3), 45-56.
13.
DiTomaso, N. & Thompson, D. E. (1988). The advancement of minorities into corporate management: An overview. Research in the Sociology of Organizations, 6, 281-312.
14.
Duca, D. (1996). Nonprofit boards: Roles, responsibilities and performance. Washington, DC: John Wiley.
15.
Eckstein, H. (1975). Case study and theory in political science. In F. Greenstein and N. Polsby (Eds.), Handbook of political science: Political science: Scope and theory (Vol. 7, pp. 77-137). Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
16.
Edwards, B., & Foley, M. (1998). Civil society and social capital beyond Putnam. American Behavioral Scientist, 42(1), 124-139.
17.
Etzioni, A. (1996). The responsive community: A communitarian perspective. American Sociological Review, 61(1), 1-11.
18.
Gaertner, S., Mann, J., Murrell, A., & Dovidio, J. (1989). Reducing intergroup bias: The benefits of recategorization. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 57(2), 239-249.
19.
Garfinkel, H. (1963). Conception of, and experiments with, “trust” as a condition of stable concerted action. In O. J. Harvey (Ed), Motivation and social interaction (pp. 187-238). New York: Rowald Press.
20.
Giddens, A. (1984). The constitution of society: Outline of the theory of structuration. Berkeley: University of California Press.
21.
Girl Scouts of the USA. (1997). Organizational continuum for institutionalizing pluralism: Building a high performance Girl Scout council (Publication No. CSP 40-154-050). New York: Author.
22.
Glaser, B., & Strauss, A. (1967). The discovery of grounded theory. Chicago: Aldine.
23.
Granovetter, M. (1973). The strength of weak ties. American Journal of Sociology, 78, 1360-1380.
24.
Hodgkinson, V., Weitzman, S., Noga, S., Gorski, H., & Kirsch, A. (1994). Giving and volunteering in the United States: Findings from a national survey. Washington, DC: Independent Sector.
25.
Hogg, M. A., & Terry, D. J. (2000). Social identity and self-categorization processes in organizational contexts. Academy of Management Review, 25, 121-140.
26.
Hwalek, M., & Minnick, P. (1997). Girl Scouting—It works!: Girl Scouts of the U.S.A. national outcomes study. New York: Girl Scouts of the USA.
27.
Ivancevich, J. M., & Gilbert, J. A. (2000). Diversity management: Time for a new approach. Public Personnel Management, 29(1), 75-92.
28.
Kanter, R. M. (1993). Men and women of the corporation. New York: Basic Books.
29.
King, G., Keohane, R., & Verba, S. (1994). Designing social inquiry: Scientific inference in qualitative research. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
30.
Knez, M., & Camerer, C. (1994). Creating expectational assets in the laboratory: Coordination in “weakest link” games. Strategic Management Journal, 15, 101-119.
31.
Knight, D., Pearce, C., Smith, K. G., Olian, J., Sims, H., Smith, K. A., et al. (1999). Top management team diversity, group process, and strategic consensus. Strategic Management Journal, 20(5), 445-447.
32.
Knowlton, L. (2001). Study shows gaps in nonprofit management—and ways to improve. Nonprofit World, 19(3), 29-31.
33.
Leana, C., & Van Buren, H. (1999). Organizational social capital and employment practices. Academy of Management Review, 24, 538-555.
34.
McPherson, M., Smith-Lovin, L., & Cook, J. M. (2001). Birds of a feather: Homophily in social networks. Annual Review of Sociology, 27, 415-444.
35.
Metzler, C. (1998). Using barriers to build bridges: Diversity in the nonprofit sector. Diversity Factor, 6(4), 26-30.
36.
Mott, W. J. (2003). Developing a culturally competent workforce: A diversity program in progress. Journal of Healthcare Management, 48(5), 337-342.
37.
Nahapiet, J., & Ghoshal, S. (1998). Social capital, intellectual capital, and the organizational advantage. Academy of Management Review, 23(2), 242-266.
38.
Nelson, R., & Winter, S. (1982). An evolutionary theory of economic change. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.
39.
Noblit, G., & Hare, R. (1988). Meta-ethnography: Synthesizing qualitative studies. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
40.
Nohria, N. (1992). Information and search in the creation of new business ventures. In N. Nohria & T. G. Eccles (Eds.), Networks and organizations: Structure, form and action (pp. 288-308). Boston: Harvard Business School Press.
41.
Olson, M. (1971). The logic of collective action: Public goods and the theory of groups. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
42.
Orr, J. (1990). Sharing knowledge, celebrating identity: Community memory in a service culture. In D. Middleton & D. Edwards (Eds.), Collective remembering (pp. 169-189). London: Sage.
43.
Portes, A. (1998). Social capital: Its origins and applications in modern sociology. Annual Review of Sociology, 24, 1-24.
44.
Putnam, R. (2000). Bowling alone. New York: Simon & Schuster.
45.
Reckwitz, A. (2002). Toward a theory of social practices: A development in culturalist theorizing. European Journal of Social Theory, 5(2), 243-263.
46.
Rutledge, J. (1994). Building board diversity. Washington, DC: National Center for Nonprofit Boards.
47.
Schneider, B., & Coleman, J. (1993). Parents, their children, and schools. Boulder, CO: Westview.
48.
Siciliano, J. (1996). The relationship of board member diversity to organizational performance. Journal of Business Ethics, 15(12), 1313-1320.
49.
Strauss, A., & Corbin, J. (1990). Basics of qualitative research: Grounded theory procedures and techniques. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
50.
Thomas, D., & Ely, R. (1996). Making differences matter: Anew paradigm for managing diversity. Harvard Business Review, 74(5), 79-90.
51.
Thomas, R. (1990). From affirmative action to affirming diversity. Harvard Business Review, 68(2), 107-120.
52.
Wanous, J., & Youtz, M. (1986). Solution diversity and the quality of group decisions. Academy of Management Journal, 29(1), 149-159.
53.
Widmer, C. (1987). Minority participation of boards of directors of human services: Some evidence and suggestions. Journal of Voluntary Action Research, 16(4), 33-44.
