Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly

In this second of a two-part focused review of the nonprofit business and corporate social responsibility (CSR) literature, the authors present the third and fourth components of the collaborative value creation (CVC) framework: the partnering processes that unpack the value creation dynamics and the collaboration outcomes that examine the benefits and costs on multiple levels. The authors suggest that greater value is created at all levels of analysis, micro, meso, and macro, as collaboration moves from sole creation to co-creation of value. The CVC framework assigns equal importance to all forms of value (economic, social, and environmental), types of actors (individuals, organizations, and societies), and time scales (short/long term), providing the analytical paths for assessing value creation holistically. Examining systematically the processes and the outcomes of value co-creation allows for greater specificity, dimensionality, and inclusivity. The article concludes by delineating the contribution of the CVC framework and offering recommendations for future research.

Although international volunteer service is growing in prevalence worldwide, there is little rigorous research about its impacts. This quasi-experimental study assesses the perceived impacts of international service on international volunteers. We focus on four internationally oriented outcome categories: international awareness, intercultural relations, international social capital, and international career intentions. International service provides exposure and immersion to develop these perspectives, relationships, and intentions. Using generalized linear mixed regression modeling, international volunteers (n = 145) are statistically more likely to report increases between the baseline (1 month before service) and postservice time periods (1 week to 1 month after service) in all outcomes except intercultural relations, as compared to a matched comparison group (n = 145). Age, race, occupational experience, and previous international experience are also associated with various outcomes. Implications include continued cultural growth, potential mutual impacts of international social capital, and future research on the volunteers and host communities.

Innovation is a critical issue for nonprofit organizations and the ability to innovate over time represents an important, unresolved challenge. In this article, we examine continuous innovation in nonprofits from a political perspective. We explore the role of power in shaping how and whether nonprofits are able to continuously innovate. More specifically, we examine how different forms of power are tied to different stages in the innovation process and the implications when those forms of power are under- or overdeveloped. We argue that certain characteristics of nonprofits can complicate the power dynamics associated with each stage of the innovation process. We propose that power imbalances in nonprofits can lead to four innovation pathologies: “nothing happens,” “nothing changes,” “nothing scales,” or “nothing adapts.” This article provides a framework to guide future research into nonprofit innovation as well as a practical tool for individuals and organizations who seek to facilitate continuous innovation.

This study aims to compare two widely used methods of original data collection in nonprofit research: web and mail surveys. We employ an experimental design to assign a web-based survey and a mail survey to nonprofit professionals working in human services organizations in New Jersey. We then compare responses generated from the two survey methods in terms of response rates and data quality. Our study finds that the mail survey achieved a significantly higher response rate than the web survey, and data obtained from the mail survey produced higher internal consistency than that obtained from the web survey. There was no difference between methods, however, in respondent characteristics, the completeness of the survey, and the percentage of missing items. Taken together, the findings suggest that a mail survey, although more costly, may have response-rate and data-quality advantages over a web survey as a methodology for gathering data from nonprofit organizations.

College student volunteerism and interest in community-based learning are on the rise. Are communities ready for them? This article examines the “supply side” of student engagement: nonprofit capacity to accommodate students. Our analysis of a large random sample of nonprofit managers in two contrasting communities finds that many of the volunteer management (VM) functions assumed to be important in any volunteer context also are important to student engagement. We also find role differentiation between interns, service learners, and general volunteers in the VM tools used to engage these students and the outcomes that can be expected. Despite variation in reported outcomes, nonprofit managers consider some aspects of VM to be essential to all campus–community partnerships. We find that each type of student involvement contributes to organizational capacity in specific ways and that student engagement depends on adequate VM capacity (VMC). Our conclusion discusses how the findings challenge service learning as presently formulated.

Encouraging organizations to be more open has been a key issue in contemporary debates over nonprofit accountability. However, our understanding of what motivates organizations to the disclosure decision is weak. We aim to enhance our understanding of this critical issue by developing and testing a model of the determinants of voluntary disclosure decision making, using data gathered on the population of not-for-profit medical institutions in Taiwan during a period where the government encouraged—but did not require—disclosure on a centralized website. As a result, we are able to conduct a “natural experiment” of the voluntary disclosure behavior of an important population of non-donor-dependent organizations. We find voluntary disclosure is more likely in organizations that are smaller, have lower debt/asset ratios, and are run by larger boards with more inside members. Our data suggest that, from a policy perspective, voluntary disclosure regimes are not an especially effective means of promoting public accountability.

There is a growing interest in applying the psychological contract concept to the relationship between volunteers and nonprofit organizations. However, previous studies overlook certain elements of volunteers’ psychological contracts as they build on theory established with reference to paid employees. We argue that the inclusion of a value-based psychological contract type, next to transactional and relational types, enables a more thorough understanding of perceived mutual obligations between volunteers and nonprofit organizations. We use the critical incidents technique to map volunteers’ perceived (un)fulfilled obligations and find that volunteers perceive both fulfilled and unfulfilled value-based obligations. Moreover, we describe specific terms related to the mission and values of the organization reported by volunteers. We conclude that future psychological contract research needs to take this value-based dimension into account, especially in volunteerism.

As nonprofit and charity organizations face increasing competition, there have been growing interests in how nonprofit organizations conduct commercial activities to raise funds as well as grow their business. However, there is lack of prior research about market-oriented and/or commercial activities in the context of nonprofit business. This study examines the process of how nonprofit organizations use relationally embedded network ties to acquire financial, human, and human capital resources to fulfill their social mission and achieve business growth. The study investigates commercial activity of three U.K.-based nonprofit organizations using the case study method. The findings contribute to insights into components of network ties for acquiring three different network resources of financial, human, and human capital. Nonprofit organizations leverage social mission to improve their ability to acquire network resources. The findings also suggest the charity and social mission of nonprofit business enhance trustworthiness in relationally embedded network ties for resource acquisition.

This article examines some of the main limitations of research on the governance of nonprofit organizations. It argues that there are limitations in both the way governance has been conceptualized and the ways in which it has been researched. It suggests that research has focused too narrowly on the boards of unitary organizations, and ignored both the wider governance system and the more complex multilevel and multifaceted governance structures that many organizations have evolved. It also argues that the dominant research designs employed have been cross-sectional and positivist in orientation. As a result, too little attention has been paid to board processes and change and how they are influenced by contextual and historical factors. Based on this analysis, some new directions for nonprofit governance research are briefly mapped out.

This article examines the factors for the sustainability of Asian-American nonprofits formed in major U.S. metropolitan areas by 2000. Consistent with studies on other nonprofits, the youngest and smallest among Asian-American organizations are the most vulnerable. The age effect is nonlinear and the marginal effect of an additional year of age on sustainability decreases at higher values of age. Chinese-American nonprofits or Asian-American social service nonprofits are more likely to remain active than other Asian ethnic or other functional types of organizations. More sustainable Asian-American nonprofits are better at managing their finances. A growing Asian-American population also provides these nonprofits with more sustaining power. This study contextualizes the importance of organization age and size as central determinants of nonprofit sustainability. It also demonstrates the relevance of race and ethnicity, organizational function, as well as management capacity for future research.

Volunteering motivations and patterns change over the course of a person’s life cycle. This paper tests hypotheses about the relationship between volunteering and four specific life events—the birth of a child, divorce, widowhood, and the death of another household member. I find that having a child decreases a person’s likelihood of volunteering and hours spent in volunteer work. Divorced males were more likely to volunteer and to increase the number of hours volunteered when compared to divorced females. Divorcees with children are also more likely to volunteer and increase the number of hours spent volunteering. Thus, gender and the presence of children in the home are important pathways to volunteering for divorced individuals. Overall, being widowed decreases the likelihood of volunteering and volunteering hours, but older widows tend to increase their volunteering activities. Having another (non-spouse) member of the family pass away is not related to volunteering.

Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) working across borders face increased accountability demands. Although many have proposed ways of changing accountability practices, the debate is rarely informed by leaders’ perspectives of how accountability is perceived and practiced across different organizational settings. In interviews with NGO leaders we find aspirations to make accountability more meaningful and integrated, in particular by listening more to stakeholders other than donors. However, these aspirations are rarely put in practice and leaders continue to highlight traditional means such as financial accounting. This gap is particularly pronounced for smaller organizations and reflects an increasingly competitive environment shaped by rating agencies and a focus on financial metrics. To move from aspirations to practice, NGOs have to be willing to share more meaningful information about their work and outcomes with stakeholders. Practicing transparency that empowers beneficiaries is central to effective organizational learning and balancing demands from different stakeholders.

In the present study, we use the self-determination theory (SDT) as a framework to explore the mediating role of needs satisfaction (i.e., autonomy, competence, and relatedness) on the relationship between the volunteers’ motivation and two aspects of the organizational context (i.e., social network and autonomous vs. controlled work climate). Data from 349 Romanian volunteers provided general support for SDT and emphasized the effect of an autonomy-supportive climate initiated by the coordinator in volunteers’ autonomous motivation. The results showed that needs satisfaction acts as a partial mediator of the relationship between work climate and volunteers autonomous motivation. The social network size was positively related to needs satisfaction but has no direct impact on autonomous motivation. Practical implications and future research are discussed.

The situation of the Korean labor market and welfare system evolved in the 2000s during a period that witnessed civil society playing a prominent role both as a provider of welfare and an inspirer for the implementation of welfare schemes (Labor Market and Welfare System in South Korea section). Emergence of a New Form of Collaboration Between Civil Society and Government section details the process that led to the installation of an ambitious minimum income scheme (the National Basic Livelihood System) and established the basis for a new form of collaboration and partnership between civil society and government in the fields of poverty alleviation and work integration. As a next step in this direction was enacted in 2006 the Law for the Promotion of Social Enterprises, which is presented and discussed in Social Enterprise Model As An Original Way of Addressing Different Social Issues section in reference to other experiences and social enterprise models. The conclusion insists however on the difficulties of preserving what was originally a balanced collaboration between government and civil society in a traditionally state-centered country.

A comprehensive analysis of the strategies pursued by nonprofit agencies must take into account not only the conventional market forces but also the social expectations and constraints that the agencies regularly confront. This study reports on a theoretically guided, qualitative analysis of the strategies that develop in the context of such factors. Data stem from interviews with officials from 12 agencies, the agencies’ prime funding agency, and interest groups. The results suggest that sampled agencies occasionally use conventionally described strategies as well as the social and political strategies covered in several previous studies, but that they most frequently rely on rarely considered “relationship” strategies by which they seek to establish and preserve an image or status. The results are argued to inform strategic decision making and to suggest ways in which agency officials may take into account two sources of social expectations and constraints: institutional arrangements and organizational identities.

In the present study, we provide important insights into the knowledge and experience individuals gain when engaging in nonprofit and voluntary work. The article explores how applicable the acquired human capital is when put to work in environments that share some common elements. Using data from the second panel study of entrepreneurial dynamics (PSED 2), we find robust evidence that previous nonprofit experience significantly increases the chances to successfully found a new venture. Given the similarities in work environments that are plagued by uncertainty and ambiguity, the task-relatedness of human capital acquired through nonprofit work might provide a comparative advantage when creating a new venture. Practical implications and future research are discussed.