Nonprofit Employees Research Articles

Collectivist Practices in Social Innovation: Functions of Cooperation

This articles analyzes the business strategy of social innovators. We call the heads and employees of non-profit organizations, social enterprises, and the initiators of volunteer projects “social innovators”, as they not only use organizational novelties in their activities, but also change routine rules and practices, which alters the life of a society connected in any way with the activities of those organizations. It is demonstrated that the standard expectations of ideologues and officials, in respect to the activity of social innovators, contradict their values and visions of proper behavior. They consistently show orientation towards cooperation with each other and the social environment. Solidarity, the development of communities around non-profit organizations or social enterprises, is not only a resource, but also an independent effect of their activity. The functions of cooperation in the activity of social innovators are described. Cooperation is required not only to implement the mission accepted by innovators, but also to solve practical production problems. These are: the increase of knowledge and exchange of experience; cooperation for solving difficult problems; the joint elaboration of standards of professional ethics and business ethics; a way to gain reputation among colleagues and service consumers; the promotion of new values; and the preservation, re-creation, or restoration of the local community. It is concluded that the competition ideologeme promoted in the community of social innovators should be replaced with the cooperation ideologeme and relevant training programs.

Modernizing Russia’s waste management industry: the scope of expert analysis

Issues concerning waste management in Russia became especially relevant during the 1990’s with the ensuing restructuring of the industrial sector, when certain components of cyclic production and recycling of materials – which were available during Soviet times – simply ceased to exist. For many years there were no appropriate government programs that could combine an economically feasible approach with environmentally oriented technologies. This article presents the results of a study based on expert interviews on the subject of modernizing Russia’s waste management industry throughout the years 2014-2017. The lineup of experts consisted of specialists in various fields: nonprofit organization employees, environmental activists, researchers in the field of humanitarian and natural sciences, businessmen, government officials, professional environmentalists and engineers. The interview carefully examines environmental modernization issues in various fields: legislation, economics, environmentally oriented technologies, where particular emphasis is laid upon resolving social issues and institutional problems with developing this sector. Experts have noticed a positive dynamic in the modernization of the waste management industry during recent years (2010-2017). However, certain omissions are apparent in every area, which must be promptly rectified in order to comply with modern requirements when it comes to stable development and environmental protection. In the field of legal support there is no clear functional allocation of responsibilities among those parties participating in legal interaction. The field of institutional management lacks a chain of stakeholders fit for a waste-free economy. Social policy and labor market structure in the waste management industry are also not fully developed. The project “Clean country”, as well as the functionality of territorial models in the field of waste management in Russia, bears special relevance. Non-profit organizations have offered to assume the role of the main resource, together with the business sector, which is in need of legal and economic support on behalf of the government in the form of well thought-out legislative framework, which would consider the interests of all parties participating in decision-making. As for actions which need to be taken immediately, it is essential to reduce the negative impact of waste on the environment.

Caught Between Volunteerism and Professionalism: Support by Nonprofit Leaders for the Donative Labor Hypothesis

The rise of professionalism within the nonprofit sector has transformed the sector’s reliance on well-meaning volunteers to paid professionals. While the professionalization of the nonprofit workforce is likely to continue, nonprofits are increasingly challenged for their inability to pay competitive wages. Our study argues that a social expectation for nonprofit employees to forgo some of their wages influences the donative labor narrative, which in turn impacts low nonprofit wages. We present data from an online survey experiment of executive directors at 467 nonprofits, along with their organizations’ Form 990 filings, to contrast socially biased attitudes and genuine views toward the donative labor hypothesis. The findings illustrate that the donative labor narrative should be understood as a result of social expectations for sacrifice of nonprofit employees, rather than a simple outcome of supply and demand in the labor market. We discuss the need to reframe the widespread donative labor narrative.

They Pay People to Work Here? The Role of Volunteering on Nonprofit Career Awareness and Interest

Individuals have several possible points of introduction into the nonprofit sector, including parental socialization, volunteering, and academic engagement. However, little is known in regard to how individuals learn about the nonprofit sector as a place of employment and become interested in nonprofit careers. Individuals are often exposed to nonprofit “work” for the first time as a volunteer. This research examines the particular experiences nonprofit employees had prior to their entry into the sector that may have influenced their selection of a nonprofit career. Results of this mixed-methods inquiry indicate that volunteering is an important conduit, as it allows people to see that paid employment exists in the nonprofit sector and allows them to better understand the various career options and career trajectories available to them. Finally, this paper discusses the practical implications for nonprofit practitioners and academic advisors, and their roles in connecting service to career.

Nonprofit staff cite ‘making a difference’ as key motivator

A new survey conducted by financial services firm TIAA finds that “making a difference” remains the primary motivation for employees in the nonprofit sector—cited by some three out of four employees and eight in 10 managers. The firm's latest Nonprofit Survey also found that nonprofit employees and managers are nearly twice as likely to feel that “success” is defined not by their compensation but by the extent to which they are helping others, their community or society.

How Public, Nonprofit, and Private-Sector Employees Access Volunteer Roles

ABSTRACTResearch has found that public and nonprofit employees volunteer at a higher rate than their for-profit-sector counterparts, with the disparity typically explained as a behavioral consequence of their higher public service motivation (PSM). This article considers an alternative explanation that public and nonprofit jobs might offer greater formal avenues for participation, and hence that differences in volunteering might simply be an indicator of ease of access to such opportunities, rather than of inherent prosocial orientation. Examining whether individuals in different sectors use different pathways to access volunteer roles may improve our understanding of sectoral differences in prosocial behavior. This study accordingly examines how public, nonprofit, and for-profit private-sector employees access organizational volunteer roles. The results show a few significant differences in access to volunteer roles by occupation sector. The implications of these findings for voluntary management, corporate social responsibility research, and future research are discussed.

Leader–member exchange and prohibitive voice in nonprofit organizations in China: The moderating roles of superior–subordinate tenure matching

The specific purpose of the present research contributes to addressing a gap in the organizational literature by examining how a superior–subordinate relationship may influence the use of prohibitive voice by employees in nonprofit organizations (NPOs). With data collected from 1,798 employees in 103 NPOs in southeastern China, the article investigates the influence of leader–member exchange (LMX) quality on prohibitive voice and explores the moderating effects of superior–subordinate tenure matching on the influence of LMX on prohibitive voice in NPOs. The results indicate that the quality of LMX relationships has a significant, positive influence on employee prohibitive voice behavior in NPOs, and this influence is moderated by superior–subordinate organizational tenure matching and LMX tenure matching. The study offers insights into the use of voice in NPOs as these organizations experience more difficult agency problems than for‐profit firms.

Exploring a model of servant leadership, empowerment, and commitment in nonprofit organizations

This study examined a model of servant leadership's relationship to organizational commitment through structural and psychological empowerment, focusing on leader–follower dyads in a nonprofit organization. Survey data was collected from 128 employees of a nonprofit organization in a northeastern U.S. city. After model re‐specification, a well‐fitting model emerged, indicating that structural empowerment mediates the relationship between servant leadership and organizational commitment. Moreover, the model suggests that structural empowerment's effect on organizational commitment is both direct and indirect—the latter occurring through the meaning dimension of psychological empowerment. This study provides initial support for structural empowerment being a mechanism through which servant leadership impacts organizational commitment in nonprofits. In addition, the role of meaningful work is highlighted as an antecedent to organizational commitment for nonprofit employees. Servant leaders are suggested to create structurally empowering working environments, which support employees' stronger commitment to the organization.

Nonprofit Pay in a Competitive Market: Wage Penalty or Premium?

Two competing theories argue that the nonprofit sector pays differently: Nonprofit employees may accept lower pay to be able to do meaningful work for a good cause, or they may earn higher pay due to nonprofit organizations’ tax exemptions and weaker incentives to hold down wages. To test these opposing expectations, we use the 2005-2013 American Community Surveys to examine pay differences among registered nurses working for nonprofit, for-profit, and public hospitals. We also test hypotheses that public and nonprofit hospitals have smaller pay disparities by gender, race, and relationship status. We find that pay is highest in nonprofit hospitals, partly because they attract better-educated and more experienced nurses, but partly because they pay comparable nurses more than for-profit hospitals do. Furthermore, contrary to expectations, pay disparities appear to be largest in nonprofit hospitals.

Sector Switching in Good Times and in Bad: Are Public Sector Employees Less Likely to Change Sectors?

With the retirement of the baby boomers looming and the growing number of opportunities to serve the public interest in broader ways than working in government, how dedicated are today’s public employees? This study examines the job sector changes of nonprofit and government employees compared with for-profit employees during both stable and unstable economic conditions. Sector switching within the government sector across federal, state, and local government employees is also examined. Findings show no sector differences during stable economic conditions, but illustrate federal government and nonprofit employees are more likely to move into the for-profit sector during times of economic instability. This study highlights the impact of tough labor market conditions on employment decisions. Nonprofits’ reliance on labor donations may no longer be sufficient, and public managers should tailor their recruitment and retention strategies to suit the level of government.

Training and intrinsic motivation in nonprofit and for-profit organizations

We develop a theoretical model in which for-profit and nonprofit employers compete to hire a worker who derives intrinsic motivation from the nonprofit's social mission. Using a unique data set of California establishments, we document a new empirical result that training has a higher incidence in nonprofits than in for-profits. In nonprofits, we also find evidence of lower base wages (with the wage gap increasing in skill level) and less incentive pay. We use the model to interpret the new result concerning training and the results (both here and from the prior literature) on base wages and incentive pay.

Can non-profit employees’ internal desires to work be quantified? Validating the Intrinsic Work Motivation Scale

Intrinsic work motivation concerns the execution of work tasks as a result of such activities being deemed inherently interesting, enjoyable, and meaningful by the employee performing them. Such motivation is of particular importance to employees of non-profit organisations, whose motives often stem from altruistic values as opposed to monetary gain. Limited quantitative measuring instruments exist that have been validated and found to be reliable to measure intrinsic work motivation. This exploratory study aimed to develop and validate such a measuring instrument (the Intrinsic Work Motivation Scale) using 486 non-profit responders from Australia, South Africa, and the United States. It made use of reliability testing, exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, and Pearson’s product moment correlations to achieve this aim. The results indicate that the Intrinsic Work Motivation Scale is reliable and possesses construct, convergent, and discriminant validity. Factor analysis indicated that the Intrinsic Work Motivation Scale comprises three factors, namely, personal connection to one’s work, personal desire to make a difference, and personal desire to perform. Intrinsic motivation was found to correlate positively with work engagement and salary satisfaction and negatively with intention to quit. It is recommended that this instrument be utilised in further studies outside of the non-profit sector, to determine the relevance of intrinsic work motivation within differing employment contexts.

Is It the Job or the Support? Examining Structural and Relational Predictors of Job Satisfaction and Turnover Intention for Nonprofit Employees

We examine the relative efficacy of two theoretically distinct variables for predicting job satisfaction and turnover intentions for workers in nonprofit organizations. The first, perceived job characteristics, reflects the structure of jobs in terms of autonomy, skill variety, task identity, task significance, and feedback. The second, perceived organizational support, reflects the quality of the employee–organization relationship. We collected data from 196 full-time, nonprofit employees across two time periods, and we tested hypotheses using hierarchical regression and relative importance analysis. Results emphasize the significance of managing employees in a supportive manner and structuring jobs so that employees can work autonomously.

Antecedents, Consequences, and Context of Employee Engagement in Nonprofit Organizations

The article draws on Kahn and Saks to examine the extent to which specific nonprofit antecedents affect engagement and how engagement mediates employee and organizational consequences. Our findings suggest that the consequences of job and organization engagement are the behavioral outcomes—job satisfaction, commitment, and organization citizenship behavior—that nonprofits consider as critical to their organization and the employees emphasize. Perhaps the strongest evidence of the impact of engagement is the finding that nonprofit employees are more likely to experience these consequences and less likely to have intention to quit even if antecedents such as job characteristics and value congruence are less likely. Consistent with the literature, we also found that value congruence is a major antecedent in the relationship between nonprofit employees, their jobs, and the organization. Our research presents one of the first findings that result from empirically validated measures of engagement in nonprofits.

The engagement and retention of non-profit employees in Belgium and South Africa

Orientation: A lack of qualitative research exists that investigates work engagement and retention within Belgium and South Africa, particularly within the non-profit sector.Research purpose: The study aimed to gather in-depth qualitative data pertaining to the factors that promote work engagement and retention amongst non-profit employees working within these two countries.Motivation for the study: Because of scarce funding and resources, non-profit organisations are pressured to retain their talented employees, with high levels of turnover being a standard for low-paid, human-service positions. However, when individuals are engaged in their work, they display lower turnover intentions, suggesting the importance of work engagement in relation to retention.Research design, approach and method: Non-probability purposive and convenience sampling was used to organise in-depth interviews with 25 paid non-profit employees working on either a full-time or a part-time basis within Belgium and South Africa. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the qualitative data produced.Main findings: Participants were found to be absorbed in, dedicated to and energised by their work, and revealed numerous aspects promoting their retention including working towards a purpose, finding fulfilment in their tasks and working in a caring environment.Practical/managerial implications: Non-profit organisations should develop positive work environments for their employees to sustain their levels of work engagement, as well as place significance on intrinsic rewards in order to retain employees.Contribution: This study provides insights into the means by which non-profit employees across two nations demonstrate their enthusiasm, pride and involvement in the work that they perform. It moreover sheds light on the factors contributing to such employees intending to leave or stay within the employment of their organisations.

Meaning or money? Non-profit employee satisfaction

Employees choosing careers with community-based non-profit human services organisations engaged in meeting human needs expecting intrinsic satisfaction often find that the same care and commitment espoused in mission statements are not reflected internally as a commitment to employee satisfaction. These frontline workers are at risk of becoming disillusioned by increasing demands for compliance, internal and external disparities in salaries, unpaid work hours and difficulties in achieving outcomes. Using Herzberg’s two-factor theory as a framework, this article incorporates a systematic review of literature per the discipline of evidence-based research to examine the potential of applying non-monetary satisfiers to invigorate the human services workforce. The article, which includes recommendations for management, focuses on the environment for frontline workers and includes creating a flexible workplace as well as implementing best practices for intentionally engaging employees in decision making and problem solving. The article has global relevance for staff retention and job satisfaction issues.

Prevent staff end runs to your board members

One nonprofit executive fear that never seems to abate is the threat of a nonprofit employee who makes an end run to a board member—and finds a listening ear.

Distributive justice and affective commitment in nonprofit organizations

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to study pay referents that may have an effect on employee organizational affective commitment. It explores existing connections between distributive justice – stemming from individual, external, and internal referents – and organizational affective commitment. This enables an exploration of the effects of distributive justice (Sweeney and McFarlin, 2005).Design/methodology/approachThis study uses a quantitative analysis of 198 French nonprofit employees in health and social services.FindingsResults show that only individual distributive justice relates to organizational affective commitment and that this relationship is mediated by person-organization fit.Originality/valueThis study is the first to analyze pay referents in nonprofit organization. It also explains the distributive justice – organizational affective commitment in terms of person-organization fit.

Ключевые проблемы развития деятельности некоммерческих организаций Белгородской области

In the article the principal causes are examined that were revealed during interrogation of heads of non-profit organizations of the Belgorod region, preventing dynamical progress of non-profit sector in the region. The structure of number of experts of non-profit organizations is presented, the problems resulting deficiency of qualified personnel are shown, and the methods, allowing to raise the level of professionalism of employees of non-profit organizations without essential financial expenses are suggested.

Antecedents and outcomes of non-profit public service motivation in Korean NPOs

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of non-profit service motivation (NPSM) as a cognitive dimension in the enhancement of managerial accountability of Korean NGO employees. Hypotheses and a research model were designed to determine the antecedent and consequence factors of NPSM from the perspective of the self-determinants theory, social learning theory, and social exchange theory.Design/methodology/approach– This study relies on quantitative data obtained from Korean NGO survey questionnaires. The sample consists of 400 employees working for NGOs. The performance evaluations were conducted within a one-year period.Findings– Results of the study demonstrate that training and development are the keys to leading employees’ value congruence and motivation. The authors also confirmed that person-organizational (P-O) fit is directly associated with NPSM. Finally, intrinsically motivated NGO employees would boost the level of managerial accountability among the Korean NGO employees through organization and socialization.Research limitations/implications– Through applying Perry’s original public service motivation (PSM) scale including rational, normative, and affective values, the exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis results confirmed that the constructs of NPSM were valid and reliable in the Korean NGOs. Additionally, it might also explain the locus of causality of self-determination theory, and how it changes people’s motivation. Finally, the authors confirmed that organizational systems are notable in terms of increasing P-O fit, strengthening intrinsic motivation, and increasing organizational consequences.Practical implications– This study confirms that human resource development (HRD) practices and performance management system (PMS) act as very effective managerial tools for nurturing positive and constructive social exchange relationships between organizational constituents, and for developing human resources in the NGOs. This is evident in cases of individuals being given extensive participation rights when it comes to decision making (Leanaet al., 1992; Mayer and Schoorman, 1998). The benefit of this reality is twofold: it strengthens individuals’ perceptions of self, fostering intrinsic motivation, and it also acts as a buffer of sorts between individuals and external pressures, weakening extrinsic motivation.Social implications– There exists a notion that well-made organizational systems and policies should be regarded as more important because certain informal or relational social interactions and communications (e.g. HRD programs) or PMS policies (e.g. service monitoring systems, finance monitoring systems, and HR and organizational monitoring systems) prevail in the cultural characteristics of NGOs. Based on this notion, allowing P-O fit, intrinsic motives, and accountable behaviors to function as invisible but very persuasive norms, rules, and informal regulations for leaders and subordinates will help make NGOs successful.Originality/value– Given that most Korean non-profit organizations are very small and lack formal HR departments or functions, it is possible that this lack of formality has been somewhat responsible for the shortage of research on the outstanding aspects and issues surrounding non-profit HR management and the motivation of non-profit employees. However, as the non-profit sector has become more professionalized and specialized in terms of training, development, and identity, the need to understand HR issues and employee motivation is vital to improve both employee management and organizational strategies. The aim of this research is to further the understanding of what makes the non-profit workforce distinct. The authors believe that the similarities in terms of motivation for public and non-profit employees allowed us to use a modified version of Perry’s (1996) scale in the study to examine NPSM. However, drawing on these various and diverse perspectives on PSM and NPSM, especially in the Korean context, the authors define NPSM as “intrinsically and voluntarily driven attitudes and dispositions that lead to more service delivery, fundraising, and volunteering activities in the non-profit agencies.”