Is research enough for a university to gain prestigious status

Abstract

By combining the two streams of literature on nonprofit organizations and business models, the aim of this paper is to provide a novel conceptualization of nonprofit business models, particularly those of private, nonprofit American universities and to contribute to the ongoing debate on how nonprofit organizations can be better managed for their long-term survival. Building on the Bourdieusian theory of forms of capital, we propose an analytical framework that places the achievement of societal value for society at the forefront. We empirically test our framework using an original database of 205 private, nonprofit American universities. We find that the robustness and competitiveness of business models of nonprofit organizations rely on the accumulation and conversion of the four complementary and interdependent forms of capital (i.e. economic, social, cultural and symbolic).