Risk, resilience and effectiveness in the non-profit sector: the case of housing associations

2014 ◽  
Vol 1 (4) ◽  
pp. 349-364 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenneth Gibb ◽  
Desmond McNulty
Keyword(s):  
Welfare Reform ◽  
Grey Literature ◽  
Public Funding ◽  
Annual Reports ◽  
Risk And Resilience ◽  
Housing Associations ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Non Profit ◽  
Social Mission ◽  
Scottish Government

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine emergent risk and resilience strategies being adopted by non-profit housing associations faced with uncertainties as a result of public funding austerity and the implications of welfare reform. Design/methodology/approach – The study draws on an evidence review of the impacts of welfare reform on social housing conducted for the Scottish Government and on analysis of annual reports, circulars and other grey literature, including risk registers produced by a range of housing providers in Scotland. Findings – In some associations, exposure to new risks is generating fresh thinking about effectiveness and performance measurement, and is also stimulating the development of new strategies and activities aimed at creating a more resilient business model. Practical implications – Managers of non-profit housing providers need to focus on both risk and resilience if they are to successfully combine conventional business accountability with their obligations to tenants and the local communities their organisations serve. Social implications – Housing associations are a key gatekeeper protecting and supporting vulnerable tenants and disadvantaged communities from the impacts of austerity and welfare reform. It is essential that as organisations they effectively manage risk and develop resilient principles that allow them to continue as ongoing concerns into the long term. Originality/value – The paper asks challenging questions about the link between the purpose or mission of an organisation and its conceptualisation of risk, arguing that resilience is a vital consideration alongside risk for non-profit organisations with a social mission.

An “adhocracy” of stakeholders, the case of ADSA in France (Essonne)

2016 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 8-23 ◽  
Author(s):  
Phillipe Naszalyi ◽  
Arnaud Slama-Royer
Keyword(s):  
Free Market ◽  
Public Funding ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Non Profit ◽  
The Public ◽  
Structural Problems ◽  
Decision Making Processes ◽  
Hybrid Management ◽  
French Association

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyze the structural problems emerging in the course of managing and safeguarding a French association for home care to a thousand elderly or disabled people between 2007 and 2012, employing 150 - 190 people and on the verge of bankruptcy. In France, small local businesses not only compete with major capital outlets in this sector but also with associations of varying size and origin. Free market rules apply, under the legislation of 2003, to what is, in part, “competition free”, being “in the public interest” and within the framework of local and national public funding. Design/methodology/approach – This paper analyses those pragmatic solutions put in place to meet the aim of shared governance and in the context of a generalized financial crisis. Findings – Borrowing from cooperatives and associations, the non-profit-based management structure the authors arrived at, including worker participation in the decision-making processes, raises questions for researchers as to the advisability of any short-term models and the validity of present social and supportive economic models. Originality/value – The hybrid management of this paper is offered as a working model in what the authors have termed an “adhocracy of stakeholders”.

scholarly journals Contesting the austerity and “welfare reform” narrative of the UK Government

2017 ◽  
Vol 37 (11-12) ◽  
pp. 639-654 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jay Wiggan
Keyword(s):  
Welfare State ◽  
Welfare Reform ◽  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
Individual Responsibility ◽  
Problem Solution ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Social Democratic ◽  
Uk Government ◽  
Scottish Government ◽  
The Uk

Purpose The “welfare reform” narrative of successive Conservative-led UK Government emphasises public spending reductions, individual responsibility and strengthening of benefit conditionality. The purpose of this paper is to cast light on how this narrative is challenged and disrupted by the Scottish Government through their articulation of a social democratic welfare state imaginary. Design/methodology/approach The study draws together a decentred governance perspective that emphasises ideational tradition for understanding (re)construction of governance (Bevir, 2013, p. 27) with critical discourse analysis to examine how welfare interpretations/representations are carried into the policy and public arena. The Scottish Government documents are deconstructed to interrogate the ideas and form of their emergent discourse and its relation to the independence referendum and welfare governance reform. Findings Responding to changing socio-economic contexts and welfare governance, the Scottish Government has developed a discourse of modernisation rooted in British and Scandinavian social democratic traditions. Fusing (civic) nationalism with social wage and social investment concepts, they conjure up imaginaries of a prosperous, solidaristic, egalitarian welfare state as a feasible future reality, recuperating “welfare” as a collective endeavour and positioning a maldistribution of power/resources between groups and constituent countries of the UK as the “problem”. Originality/value The paper is of value to those interested in how changes to centralised-hierarchical welfare governance can open new spaces for actors at different levels of government to articulate counter-hegemonic discourses and practices. Its originality lies in the analysis of how the Scottish Government has reworked social democratic traditions to weave together a welfare imaginary that directly contests the problem-solution narrative of successive Conservative-led UK Governments.

From “virtuous” to “pragmatic” pursuit of social mission

2015 ◽  
Vol 38 (9) ◽  
pp. 970-991 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert E. McDonald ◽  
Jay Weerawardena ◽  
Sreedhar Madhavaram ◽  
Gillian Sullivan Mort
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Work ◽  
Social Enterprises ◽  
Fiscal Sustainability ◽  
Bottom Line ◽  
Term Survival ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Non Profit ◽  
Social Mission ◽  
The Social ◽  
Non Profit Organizations

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to offer a sustainability-based typology for non-profit organizations and corresponding strategies to sustain the mission and/or financial objectives of non-profit organizations. The balance of mission and money, known in the non-profit literature as the double bottom line, is a challenge for professional managers who run non-profits and scholars who study them. Design/methodology/approach – Typologies are often used to classify phenomena to improve understanding and bring about clarity. In this paper, non-profit organizations are viewed from a social and fiscal viability perspective, developed from the long standing challenge of balancing mission and money. Findings – The typology developed in this paper identifies several normative strategies that correspond to the social and fiscal viability of non-profit organizations. In fact, the strategies offered in this paper can help non-profit managers achieve organizational sustainability, thus enabling them to continue what they are meant to do – to provide greater social value to their constituents. Research limitations/implications – The typology presented is a classification system rather than a theoretical typology. Its purpose is to help managers of non-profits to recognize threats to their organizations’ long-term survival and offer strategies that if adopted can move the organizations to less vulnerable positions. However, the recommended strategies are by no means exhaustive. Furthermore, the focus of the paper is on non-profit organizations, not profit-driven or hybrid entities. The sustainability-based typology of non-profit organizations and the corresponding strategies have implications for practitioners and academics. The typology and its contents can help managers assess their non-profits, competitive environment and their current strategies, plan their double bottom line strategies and last but not the least, develop and implement strategies for social and fiscal sustainability. In addition, our paper provides great opportunities for future research to subject our typology and its contents to conceptual and empirical scrutiny. Practical implications – The strategies described here are developed based on scholarly research and examples from successful non-profits. The typology and the related list of strategies provide a manager with the tools to accurately diagnose organizational challenges and adopt plans to improve the organization’s viability. Social implications – Non-profit organizations are an integral part of society that bolsters economic prosperity, environmental integrity and social justice. This paper may provide guidance for a number of non-profit managers to keep their organizations operating and serving important social missions. Originality/value – In the context of organizations for social mission, several typologies exist that looked at firms from the perspectives of ownership versus profit objectives, entrepreneurship conceptualizations of economists and origins and development paths of social enterprises. While these typologies provided foundations for theoretical and empirical work into social enterprises, our typology offers strategies for the sustainability of mission and/or money objectives of non-profits. The value of this research lies in integrating virtuous and pragmatic objectives of non-profit sustainability that, in turn, can ensure the social mission of non-profits.

Tell me your financing and I tell you who you are

2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 53-77 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne Margarian
Keyword(s):  
Latent Class ◽  
Support Systems ◽  
Public Funding ◽  
Public Support ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Non Profit ◽  
For Profit ◽  
Ordered Logistic Regression ◽  
Starting Point

Purpose This paper aims to identify criteria for the better targeting of public funding for private social activities and organizations. As a starting point, it proposes that financing strategies can characterize organizations which are positioned on a for-profit/non-profit continuum. The paper then analyses how far the effectiveness of public support systems depends on recipients’ general financing strategies. Design/methodology/approach The study is based on data from a standardized small-scale survey. The analysis applies latent class analysis for the creation of a meaningful organizational dimension and applies them in an ordered logistic regression. Findings Despite their variety along a for-profit/non-profit continuum, organizations in the sample can be described by three meaningful dimensions, and the focal role of organizations’ financing strategies can be confirmed. Repeated project-based public support might create a harmful dependence on this kind of funds. To be effective, it needs to be targeted at nascent socially effective organizations with non-solvent clients. Practical implications Recognition of different financing strategies as meaningful characteristics of organizations with consequences for their long-term development is of direct practical relevance for a better design and targeting of financing systems in general and public support systems in particular. Originality/value Although the focal relevance of financing for the characterization of (social) organizations has been stressed before, the paper is able to operationalize the idea and to demonstrate its value in an application to the evaluation of project based support.

scholarly journals International social entrepreneurship and social value creation in cause-related marketing through personal relationships and accountability

2020 ◽  
Vol 37 (5) ◽  
pp. 945-976
Author(s):  
Teck-Yong Eng ◽  
Sena Ozdemir ◽  
Suraksha Gupta ◽  
Rama Prasad Kanungo
Keyword(s):  
Value Creation ◽  
Social Entrepreneurship ◽  
Social Value ◽  
Personal Relationships ◽  
Social Entrepreneurs ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Non Profit ◽  
Social Mission ◽  
Social Value Creation ◽  
International Social

PurposeDrawing on the resource-based view (RBV) and literature on relational embeddedness and network ties, we examine how personal relationships of international social entrepreneurs and accountability of social enterprises influence social value creation in cause-related marketing (CRM) of three UK-based international charities. The study also explores how personal relationships of international social entrepreneurs affect accountability of social entrepreneurship for social value creation of non-profit organizations in the UK context.Design/methodology/approachOur research aimed to inform international social entrepreneurship literature by exploring the impact of personal relationships on accountability and social value creation processes via cause-related marketing (CRM) practices using a case study method. The lack of clearly defined social value creation in social entrepreneurship, and somewhat intangible processes of relationally embedded ties, accountability, and their impact, the case study method is most suited for this study. In particular, inquiry-based investigation surrounding social value, embedded ties and accountability requires systematic and structured dissemination to capture latent constructs.FindingsThe findings show the importance of personal ties in the alignment of social mission with corporate social responsibility between UK-based international charities and commercial organizations across borders. In international social entrepreneurship, social value creation is facilitated by accountability of social goals while trust-based personal relationships assist access to commercial opportunities.Research limitations/implicationsFurther research could examine the role of trust in creating greater social value from an international social entrepreneurial perspective rather than from a solely non-profit social mission. It can also consider additional factors such as gender and cultural capital issues to investigate the role of personal relationships of international social entrepreneurs in the accountability and social value creation of non-profit organizations.Practical implicationsThe need to fulfil social objectives, missions and obligations are central to the involvement of international social entrepreneurs in CRM activities with commercial organizations. Accountability through clear communications serves as the basis for brokering new ties or partnerships within the social relations of entrepreneurs, particularly weak ties rendering trust for third party endorsement and sharing of information. Although partnerships with commercial organizations may create social value in CRM, the reliance on personal relationships may expose international social entrepreneurs to unethical practice beyond immediate relationships and/or opportunistic behavior without formal contracting mechanisms. International social entrepreneurs must therefore match the core values of their social mission with potential partners in their CRM engagements.Originality/valueThe literature on international social entrepreneurship has not considered how social entrepreneurs' personal relationships at the individual level may impact accountability of social entrepreneurship for CRM and social value creation. This study builds on these studies by examining how individual level personal relationships of international social entrepreneurs with external stakeholders influence accountability of social entrepreneurship for CRM and social value creation at the organizational level. This study also builds on prior studies about entrepreneurial networks and network ties by examining the processes in which international social entrepreneurs use their personal relationships to access and utilize external resources for social value creation in CRM. Finally, this study contributes to previous research which provides limited insights into the international social entrepreneurship among organizations with reference to CRM where social value attributes are evaluated by embedded relational ties.

scholarly journals Annual reporting by social enterprise organizations: “legitimacy surplus” or reporting deficit?

2020 ◽  
Vol 33 (8) ◽  
pp. 1997-2025
Author(s):  
Ciaran Connolly ◽  
Martin Kelly
Keyword(s):  
Social Enterprise ◽  
Annual Report ◽  
Annual Reports ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Organizational Contexts ◽  
Social Mission ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Legal Obligations ◽  
The Social ◽  
Annual Reporting

PurposeDrawing on an accountability framework developed for social enterprise organizations (SEOs), this paper examines the annual report disclosure practices of SEOs in the United Kingdom in order to investigate the types of accountability disclosed by SEOs.Design/methodology/approachAfter developing a SEO database, and utilizing a bespoke document coding checklist, the annual reports of 129 SEOs were examined.FindingsThe results indicate that while SEOs would be expected to account in line with normative stakeholder theory, many do not provide constructive and voluntary accountability information to their stakeholders, at least through the annual report, and that their focus is on satisfying legal obligations.Originality/valueIn response to calls for research to better understand accountability in new organizational contexts, this paper makes two contributions: firstly, by extending prior accountability research in the NFP sector to consider organizational hybrids, it raises questions about organizational accountability and how it is discharged in situations where an organization operates as a business and yet is accountable for its social mission; secondly, assuming these organizations are driven by their business and social logics, the findings suggest that SEO accountability disclosure practices are inconsistent with the social objectives on which they are based.

Israel ' s failed experiment with American-style welfare reform

2016 ◽  
Vol 36 (3/4) ◽  
pp. 226-241
Author(s):  
Orit Fisher-Shalem ◽  
Jill Quadagno
Keyword(s):  
Welfare Reform ◽  
Cultural Values ◽  
Convergence Theory ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Non Profit ◽  
Political Processes ◽  
Smooth Path ◽  
Reform Plan ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Multi Method Approach

Purpose – According to convergence theory, over time societies form similar social structures, political processes and public policies. In 2001, Israel adopted a welfare reform plan that rejected the traditional strategy of passive income support and instead endorsed the concept of activation. The plan was modeled on the Wisconsin Welfare to Work program and was designed to put the long-term unemployed to work. The program began operating in four regions in 2004 but was abruptly terminated six years later. The purpose of this paper is to analyze why Israel’s welfare reform failed to follow the smooth path predicted by convergence theory and elucidates the factors in the Israeli environment that made the implementation of a program borrowed from the USA unsustainable. Design/methodology/approach – A multi-method approach including interviews with key informants, content analysis of media materials and government documents and a quantitative comparative values analysis of four nations. Findings – The failure of US-style welfare reform in Israel was due to four main factors: a more diverse recipient population, a lack of understanding of Israeli cultural values, a welfare population that included a substantial number of ethnic minorities whose customs conflicted with program regulations and a social movement against the program by non-profit organizations. Originality/value – This paper demonstrates the limitations of convergence theory and highlights the salience of cultural values in the transmission of activation policies across nations. Specifically, it shows that outcomes vary when policies that are superficially similar are implanted in nations with fundamentally different cultures.

Service decision-making processes at three New York state cooperative public library systems

2014 ◽  
Vol 35 (6/7) ◽  
pp. 418-432
Author(s):  
Xiaoai Ren
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
New York ◽  
New York State ◽  
Public Library ◽  
Organizational Structures ◽  
Annual Reports ◽  
Content Type ◽  
York State ◽  
Decision Making Processes ◽  
And Cluster Analysis

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to look at the organizational structure and service provisions of cooperative public library systems in New York State. The study also seeks to ask questions of how cooperative public library systems decide what services to provide. Design/methodology/approach – Descriptive statistics, factor analysis and cluster analysis were applied on New York State public library systems’ 2008 annual reports to generate quantitative profiles of public library systems and their service transactions. Three cooperative public library systems displaying different service features were purposefully selected for further study of their service decision-making processes. The face-to-face and phone interviews were adopted in the study. Findings – Research findings from this study provide information on specific service variations across cooperative public library systems. The findings also provide differences of service decision-making processes in addition to the factors that might cause these differences. Originality/value – This study adds knowledge of public library systems’ management and organizational structures, therefore fills a knowledge gap on public library systems. It can also serve as the baseline for future studies using newer annual report data and therefore to study the changing roles and services of cooperative public library systems in New York State.

Knowledge needs in the non-profit sector: an evidence-based model of organizational practices

2016 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-48 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dinesh Rathi ◽  
Lisa M. Given ◽  
Eric Forcier
Keyword(s):  
Quantitative Data ◽  
Qualitative Data ◽  
Free Text ◽  
Evidence Based ◽  
Theory Approach ◽  
Organizational Practices ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Non Profit ◽  
Types Of Knowledge ◽  
Survey Responses

Purpose – This paper aims to present findings from a study of non-profit organizations (NPOs), including a model of knowledge needs that can be applied by practitioners and scholars to further develop the NPO sector. Design/methodology/approach – A survey was conducted with NPOs operating in Canada and Australia. An analysis of survey responses identified the different types of knowledge essential for each organization. Respondents identified the importance of three pre-determined themes (quantitative data) related to knowledge needs, as well as a fourth option, which was a free text box (qualitative data). The quantitative and qualitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistical analyses and a grounded theory approach, respectively. Findings – Analysis of the quantitative data indicates that NPOs ' needs are comparable in both countries. Analysis of qualitative data identified five major categories and multiple sub-categories representing the types of knowledge needs of NPOs. Major categories are knowledge about management and organizational practices, knowledge about resources, community knowledge, sectoral knowledge and situated knowledge. The paper discusses the results using semantic proximity and presents an emergent, evidence-based knowledge management (KM)-NPO model. Originality/value – The findings contribute to the growing body of literature in the KM domain, and in the understudied research domain related to the knowledge needs and experiences of NPOs. NPOs will find the identified categories and sub-categories useful to undertake KM initiatives within their individual organizations. The study is also unique, as it includes data from two countries, Canada and Australia.

Influence of human resource capital information disclosure on investors’ share investment intentions

2017 ◽  
Vol 46 (3) ◽  
pp. 551-571 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sugumar Mariappanadar ◽  
Alma Kairouz
Keyword(s):  
Performance Management ◽  
Human Resource ◽  
Information Disclosure ◽  
Banking Sector ◽  
Strategic Human Resource Management ◽  
Annual Reports ◽  
Individual Investors ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Investment Intentions ◽  
The Impact

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to apply the strategic human resource management (HRM) perspective to investigate the schematic relationship between the dimensions of human resource (HR) capital information and intentions to use such information in individual investors’ decisions relating to investing equities in the banking industry. Design/methodology/approach A two-stage empirical study was conducted in 2010 using a four-part HR capital disclosure questionnaire, which was developed and validated in stage 1 (n=145) of the study. In stage 2 (n=157), current or previous shareholders in one of the Australian banking sector corporations participated in the study. The collected data were analyzed using confirmatory factor and logistic regression analyses. Findings The findings of this explorative study highlight that the individual investors’ perception on the importance of performance management dimension of HR capital information has varied impacts on their intentions to use such information in investment decisions to buy, hold on to, or sell stocks. Practical implications This study has made an important contribution to the strategic HRM and behavioral finance literature that the human capital information facilitates the propensity to avoid regrets in selling shares too early (dispositional effect bias) to achieve utility benefits in future which is different from the findings of financial information disclosure study. Originality/value A recent critical review of HR disclosure indicated that most of the published articles on HR capital have used company annual reports for data source. However, this is the first study that attempts to understand the impact of HR capital disclosure information on investment intentions from individual investors’ schema rather than drawing data from company annual reports.

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