Bringing Beneficiaries More Centrally into Nonprofit Education and Research

Abstract

This paper makes the case for bringing beneficiaries more centrally into nonprofit research and education. First, the paper provides a historical overview of how scholars in three fields came to recognize beneficiaries as central organizational actors. Tracing these early observations, and the related concepts of coproduction, value cocreation and comembership, this paper considers why these ideas have not been more central to nonprofit education and research. Second, the offers three likely explanations based on a review of early discussions in the field of nonprofit management education. Third, the paper turns to current research about nonprofits and their beneficiaries published in three major nonprofit journals between 1998-2018 (Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, Nonprofit Management & Leadership and Voluntas) to show that although most researchers are not using these concepts directly, their detailed empirical findings provide evidence of the relevance of these ideas for nonprofits. The final section suggests next steps for bringing beneficiaries into nonprofit research and education.