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Examining the influence of organizational characteristics on nonprofit commercialization
Author(s) -
Suykens Ben,
De Rynck Filip,
Verschuere Bram
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
nonprofit management and leadership
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.844
H-Index - 54
eISSN - 1542-7854
pISSN - 1048-6682
DOI - 10.1002/nml.21384
Subject(s) - resource dependence theory , contingency , resource (disambiguation) , commercialization , business , contingency theory , phenomenon , sociocultural evolution , dependency (uml) , organizational analysis , organizational behavior and human resources , organizational studies , endowment , organizational commitment , marketing , public relations , knowledge management , sociology , organizational performance , management , economics , political science , computer science , computer network , linguistics , philosophy , physics , software engineering , quantum mechanics , anthropology , law
A growing body of literature discusses the (dis)advantages of nonprofit organizations becoming commercial by engaging in the sale of organizational services and products. However, when explaining this phenomenon, scholars tend to focus on resource uncertainty, thereby disregarding the organizational ability to commercialize. Complementing resource dependency theory with insights from contingency theory, this study presents arguments drawn from a comparative case study of six sociocultural nonprofits in Belgium. We find that, when resource uncertainty is similar, organizational differences in terms of commercial income can be explained by differences in (a) organizational origins, (b) professional capacity, and (c) types of tasks. We conclude that organizational characteristics can either enable or disable the ability of nonprofits to commercialize and consequently their ability to self‐sustain in an increasing challenging resource environment.