Organizational Culture and Effectiveness in Community-Based Nonprofits

Abstract

Community-based nonprofits have traditionally emphasized group and developmental cultures which stress the importance of people and transformation. However, evolving institutional environments that champion competing cultures associated with professional and enterprising ideals have increasingly interpenetrated contemporary nonprofits. Drawing on the Competing Values Culture Framework (CVCF), this research explores how organizational members define the complex contemporary landscape of organizational culture in community-based nonprofits and examines the relationship between diverse organizational cultures (e.g., group, developmental, hierarchical, and rational) and perceptions of effectiveness. Results indicate that employees in community-based nonprofits view group cultures as the most characteristic of their organizations, although no organization is characterized by a single culture. In line with the CVCF, we find that each organizational culture is associated with the achievement of different measures of organizational effectiveness in community-based nonprofits. We conclude with a discussion of what this means for research and practice.