Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly current issue

Thank You Note

Thu, 21 Jan 2010 16:20:30 PST

Neoliberal Restructuring, Activism/Participation, and Social Unionism in the Nonprofit Social Services

Baines, D. — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 16:20:30 PST

During the era of neoliberalism, the nonprofit services sector has simultaneously been a site of (a) promarket restructuring and collective and individual resistance and (b) alternative forms of service delivery. Drawing on data collected as part of an ethnographic study in the Canadian nonprofit social services sector, this article explores the impacts of some of restructuring on professional, quasi-professional, and managerial employees in eight unionized, nonprofit social services. The data show that the adoption of social unionism has permitted some nonprofit social service workers to initiate new processes through which to have a voice in far-reaching social issues, sometimes in coalition with management and/or clients. The findings of this study point to the irrepressibility of the participatory spirit and its capacity to seek new forms and practices despite the stretched and restructured conditions of today’s nonprofit social services sector.

Navigating Institutional Pressure in State-Socialist and Democratic Regimes The Case of Movement Brontosaurus

Carmin, J., Jehlicka, P. — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 16:20:30 PST

Using the case of Movement Brontosaurus, a Czech organization founded in state socialist times, this article investigates how civic associations and nongovernmental organizations seeking to promote alternatives to the status quo respond to institutional pressures in different political and social contexts. The case shows that under state socialism, Brontosaurus appeared to conform to state mandates and societal expectations. However, its formal structure was decoupled from many activities to obscure its oppositional intent. After the transition to democracy, the organization was only able to maintain its place in society after it aligned its structure and practices with each other and openly expressed its alternative agenda. The findings demonstrate how social change and alternative lifestyle organizations vary their responses to institutional pressure in ways that enable them to realize their values and pursue their missions while accounting for the political and social contexts in which they are embedded.

Why Not Partner With Local Government?: Nonprofit Managerial Perceptions of Collaborative Disadvantage

Gazley, B. — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 16:20:30 PST

Service delivery partnerships with local government offer both opportunities and challenges for nonprofit agencies, but the normative and institutionalist tendencies of the collaboration literature tend to downplay the rationales for avoiding partnerships and the influence of managerial characteristics on the decision to collaborate. Nonprofit executive directors across the state of Georgia were asked about factors that might inhibit them from collaborating with local government agencies. Principal components analysis created four dependent variables from these answers, which were regressed on various respondent, organizational, and community characteristics. The resulting analysis finds that managerial attitudes about collaboration are not monolithic: They reflect underlying political and social dynamics that should be understood as distinct constructs, linked to experience and personal background. The findings suggest that future research should specify the exact nature of collaborative barriers, examine the individual backgrounds of those charged with collaborative responsibility, and integrate theories of organizational and human behavior.

Cause-Related Marketing in the Retail and Finance Sectors: An Exploratory Study of the Determinants of Cause Selection and Nonprofit Alliances

Liston-Heyes, C., Liu, G. — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 16:20:30 PST

Firms devote increasing funds and resources to cause-related marketing (CRM). This report seeks to uncover some of the factors that explain how firms choose between competing social causes in the development of their CRM strategy. The behavior of firms traded on the London Stock Exchange is analyzed, by highlighting regularities and patterns in CRM activities. The rationales for the observed patterns are investigated through semistructured interviews with managers employed by UK-based nonprofit organizations, financial services, and retail firms. The authors identify, among other things, differences in the nature of the "selected" social causes, the length and geographical scope of the social campaigns, and the (CRM) strategies used to implement them. It is argued that these variations may reflect differences in the organizational legitimacy pressures experienced by firms in the retail and financial services sectors.

Strategic Responses by a Nonprofit When a Donor Becomes Tainted

Dunn, P. — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 16:20:30 PST

What should a not-for-profit do when a benefactor whom the not-for-profit has voluntarily and publicly honored becomes tainted as a result of a scandal? This article outlines a typology of donors and donations and using stakeholder theory and resource dependency identifies three external pressures (value incongruence, coalescence, and visibility) and two internal constraints (economic need and organizational commitment) that would entice a not-for-profit to adopt any one of three strategies: return the money and remove the public acknowledgment, keep the money but remove the acknowledgment, or keep the money and continue to honor the donor.

Influences on the Architecture of Human Resource Management in Nonprofit Organizations: An Analytical Framework

Ridder, H.-G., McCandless, A. — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 16:20:30 PST

Human resource management (HRM) plays an important role in providing better management for nonprofit organizations (NPOs). Yet little is known about what influences their human resource practices. After discussing how the strategic and human-resource-based theoretical approaches are appropriate for analyzing HRM in NPOs, the authors explore the current nonprofit literature to identify the specific characteristics of strategic orientations and human resources in NPOs. As a result, the authors propose an analytical framework that is differentiated into four HRM types. This framework enables a better understanding of the relationship between the specific characteristics of NPOs and the architecture of HRM.

How Do Religions Differ in Their Impact on Individuals' Social Capital?: The Case of South Korea

Hoi Ok Jeong, — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 16:20:30 PST

This article assesses the extent to which three religious communities in South Korea (Protestantism, Catholicism, and Buddhism) differ in their influence on individuals’ civic engagement and interpersonal trust—two components of social capital. Based on South Korea’s unique context, the author makes significant modifications to Anheier and Salamon’s ideas about religion. The author examines their four dimensions of the religions: an emphasis on charity and philanthropy, modularity, institutionalization, and autonomy. Regression analysis using data from the 1999-2002 World Values shows that Christianity increases individuals’ civic engagement, while Buddhism does not have an impact on civic engagement. With respect to trust, neither religious affiliation influences individuals’ interpersonal trust.

Who Are Volunteers in Japan?

Taniguchi, H. — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 16:20:31 PST

Although Japan has a lower level of volunteering than many other countries, recent studies show slow but steady changes in its voluntary sector. Motivated by the scarcity of generalizable studies on volunteering among Japanese, the author examines the effects of demographic, socioeconomic, and social capital variables on the number of hours volunteered in Japan using data from the 2002 Japanese General Social Survey. Findings show that although demographic, socioeconomic, and social capital variables all help explain the level of volunteering, social capital variables appear to be stronger predictors than the other two types of variables. Religiosity is one of the most significant facilitators of volunteering, even though the large majority of Japanese do not practice organized religion. Frequent face-to-face contact with friends also increases volunteering hours. Most interestingly, individuals who interact more with foreigners volunteer more hours.

Book Review: Andrew J. F. Morris The Limits of Voluntarism: Charity and Welfare From the New Deal Through the Great Society. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 2009. 240 pp. $80.00. (hardcopy)

Netting, F. E. — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 16:20:31 PST

Book Review: Holland, T. P., & Ritvo, R. A. (2008). Nonprofit Organizations: Principles and Practices. New York: Columbia University Press. Pp. 342. Worth, M. J. (2008). Nonprofit Management: Principles and Practice. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Pp. 424

Cargo, R. A. — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 16:20:31 PST