Nonprofit Employees Research Articles

“I Love My Job.” Factors of Corporate Well-Being in NGOs and Hypotheses on the Role of Evaluation

When representatives of non-profit organizations discuss well-being or quality of life, the focus usually centers on their beneficiaries. It is quite natural, since non-profit organizations (NGOs) are founded to solve the problems of those in need and enhance their quality of life. The well-being of NGO employees often remains overlooked, though it significantly influences the effectiveness of NGOs and, ultimately, their ability to aid their beneficiaries.

Nonprofit Human Resources: Crisis Impacts and Mitigation Strategies

This study empirically evaluates the relationships between the state and human service nonprofits’ human resources during a crisis. We employ qualitative content analysis to critically assess the experiences of 31 nonprofits that experienced the 2015 to 2017 Illinois Budget Impasse. We evaluated the nonprofits’ strategic human resource management implications through a resource dependency lens at three levels: micro-, meso-, and macro-. Human service nonprofits pull from a toolbox of strategies in surprising ways. Strategy choices were intrinsically linked to the impacts experienced by the individual workers (micro-) and organization (meso-). Micro-level impacts included additional emotional labor and reduced benefits, while meso-level impacts included loss of capacity and short-term planning changes. Finally, the sector-level impacts included a multipronged brain drain of the nonprofit human resource industry. The findings are helpful for nonprofit employees, managers, policy-makers, and anyone concerned about the delivery of social services by nonprofits during crises.

Beyond assumptions of altruism: Examining nonprofit work with a job fit framework and response surface analysis

AbstractScholars frequently investigate how nonprofit employees, as a group, differ from public or for‐profit employees. However, there is less focus on how motivational profiles vary among nonprofit employees. Particularly as the nonprofit sector professionalizes, the reasons why people seek nonprofit employment are diversifying. Recent work highlights a more individualized understanding of employee motivation, which can lead to more nuanced and tailored human resource management techniques. I amplify this stream of scholarship, guided by a job fit framework and introducing a robust methodological approach from organizational psychology that accounts for interactions between an employee's work preferences and work experiences on outcomes of interest. With two waves of original data on international aid workers, I demonstrate that the experience of prosocial work (i.e., work that aims to help other people) is associated with greater job satisfaction for those with strong prosocial work preferences but can be associated with reduced job satisfaction for those without. These findings necessitate nuanced attention to employees' work preferences, moving beyond assumptions that prosocial work will universally motivate nonprofit employee performance.

A Review of Predictors and Outcomes of Work Engagement in Nonprofit Organizations

The study proposes a conceptual model of antecedents and consequences of work engagement in non-profit organizations (NPOs) using the job demands-resources (JD-R) model by employing an extensive literature review. For this investigation, a thorough search of the literature was done to find conceptual and empirical publications. Based on the previous literature review, there were twenty-one studies have been included. It has been discovered that personal resources, job expectations, and job resources all play a significant part in keeping NPO staff engaged. Researchers have recommended philanthropic resources as novel resources in the JD-R model since the study shows that employees in non-profit organizations (NPOs) are engaged in philanthropic activities and exhibit distinct nature of work orientation compared to the workforce in profit-oriented organizations. The study's novelty stems from introducing new variables such as service consciousness, altruism, compassion, and belief in human benevolence under philanthropic resources. Second, emotional demand is proposed as a new variable under job demand. Third, ethical and authentic leadership are offered as new variables under job resources.

Test Concept of the City of Cologne for Critical Infrastructure (KRITIS) during the First Wave of the COVID-19 Pandemic

At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Public Health Department of the City of Cologne established preferential testing for critical infrastructure (KRITIS) personnel. The aim of this study was to retrospectively analyze this concept. Test results as well as demographic and job-related data from March to April 2020 were collected and descriptively analyzed using a specially developed software. KRITIS personnel who tested positive were systematically interviewed over the phone. 1521 individuals were tested, of whom 896 (59%) were from the healthcare sector, particularly from the nursing professions (35%). Testing and consultation services were also utilized by employees of non-profit organizations (8%), administration (7%), fire department (11%), and police (4%). KRITIS personnel who tested positive suspected increased risk from contacts at the workplace (58%), mostly without adequate protection (85%). Of those surveyed, 83% rated the KRITIS concept as 'good' or 'very good'. Processes at the testing center were rated as 'good' or 'very good' by 89%, while 47% rated phone support as 'good' or 'very good', and 30% as 'sufficient' or poor. Free comments showed that frequent phone contact from the Public Health Department was perceived as positive and even more often as negative interindividually. Communication and advice were positively highlighted, while lack of competence and coordination were criticized. The respondents criticized the comparatively lower provision of testing services for family members, for example, due to limited resources. With the KRITIS concept, the Public Health Department of Cologne developed and implemented an offer for system-relevant professional groups that was intensively used and mostly assessed as positive. This concept can be used as a blueprint for other pandemics.

Online fundraising for NPOs via email marketing – A critical success factors analysis in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland

This study aims to empirically determine success factors in the email marketing as a sub-discipline of online fundraising of nonprofit organizations (NPOs). Hereby, it responds to the gap of knowledge as existing research has not in detail touched nonprofit email marketing. To explore success factors in NPOs’ email marketing, a detailed structural equation model, in which email marketing success acts as the final endogenous variable and the nine potential success factors function as formative latent exogenous variables, was developed. A quantitative survey was conducted with employees of NPOs from German-speaking countries. For data analysis, which was carried out with the software SmartPLS, 153 responses were utilized. Using aggregate and disaggregate analyses on the developed model, various critical success factors in NPOs’ email marketing could be empirically identified. Furthermore, an importance-performance map analysis allowed the identification of the most crucial measures for increasing success, as a low performance of the NPOs faces a high total effect on email marketing success. From the results of the importance-performance map analysis, it was possible to derive specific practice-relevant action recommendations regarding measures in which NPOs should prioritize an increase in performance. Therefore, in addition to its theoretical relevance, the study also has a strong practical value.

Actions matter more than words: From leader hypocrisy to employee withdrawal

AbstractLeader hypocrisy refers to perceptions of a leader's word–deed misalignment. This study explores the mechanisms underlying the relationship between leader hypocrisy and psychological withdrawal as an indicator of nonprofit employees' disengagement from work. We propose that leader hypocrisy indirectly relates to employees' psychological withdrawal behaviors by influencing the quality of their relationships (leader‐member exchange [LMX]) with their leaders. Within this mechanism, we differentiate two routes that can lead followers' perceptions of leader hypocrisy to LMX: trust in the leader and negative emotions. Data were gathered from 182 employees working in a variety of nonprofit organizations (NPOs) in two waves. The findings support the indirect effect of leader hypocrisy on psychological withdrawal through trust in the leader and LMX. However, the mediating effect of negative emotions was not supported as the direct path from negative emotions to LMX was not significant. By adding a direct path, the alternative model demonstrated that when employees perceive their leader as a hypocrite, negative emotions can directly create psychological withdrawal rather than influencing withdrawal through impairing relationship quality perceptions.

Challenges encountered by nonprofit employees during the COVID‐19 crisis: A mirror reflecting nonprofit leaders' performance

AbstractNonprofit organizations faced enormous challenges in maintaining service operations and fulfilling their responsibilities to their communities during the COVID‐19 pandemic. Good leadership is key to ensuring effective responses and the survival of nonprofits during a crisis. Leaders must maintain the commitment, passion, and dedication of their teams even during uncertain and difficult times. Hence, this study explored the performance of nonprofit leaders during the COVID‐19 pandemic by focusing on the difficulties encountered by their frontline staff. In a qualitative paradigm, three focus group sessions were conducted with 23 social workers from child and youth, family, and elderly care services in Hong Kong. We generated four major themes related to the expectations of nonprofit employees on their leaders: (a) visionary direction, (b) compassionate respect and communication, (c) timely support and guidance, and (d) trustworthy relationship. Our findings revealed the frustration experienced by nonprofit employees and have significant implications for their leaders. Specifically, nonprofit employees expected to receive more guidance, protection, and understanding from their leaders. Using the transformational leadership model as a reference, this study provides suggestions on how nonprofit organizations can effectively address the concerns of their employees during a crisis.

"The trauma machine expands faster than our services": Health risks for unhoused people in an early-stage gentrifying area.

While homelessness continues to be a prevalent problem throughout the United States, many urban neighborhoods are also concurrently experiencing an influx of affluent neighbors through gentrification, exposing the stark inequalities in housing access nationwide. Gentrification-induced changes in neighborhood dynamics have also been shown to affect the health of low-income and non-white groups, with high risks of trauma from displacement and exposure to violent crime and criminalization. This study addresses risk factors for health among the most vulnerable, unhoused individuals, and provides a detailed case study on the potential exposures to emotional and physical traumas for unhoused people in early-stage gentrifying areas. By conducting 17 semi-structured interviews with people who work with the unhoused community - health providers, nonprofit employees, neighborhood representatives, and developers - in Kensington, Philadelphia, we analyze how early-stage gentrification impacts the risks for negative health consequences among unhoused groups. Results show that gentrification impacts the health of unhoused people in four main areas that, all together, create what we identify as a "trauma machine" - that is compounding traumas for unhoused residents by 1) reducing and compromising spaces of safety from violent crime, 2) decreasing public services, 3) threatening the quality of healthcare, and 4) increasing the likelihood of displacement and associated trauma.

Do Inclusive Workplace Policies Foster Employer Attractiveness? Comparative Evidence From an Online Employer Review Platform

Public sector employers increasingly promote inclusive workplaces, but the impact of such policies on employees’ perceptions of employer attractiveness has rarely been studied. A deeper understanding of how inclusive workplaces relate to employer attractiveness, and how this relationship differs between employment sectors, may inform recruitment policies and retention management. This study tackles this issue and provides a large-scale analysis of an online employer review platform, covering more than 16,000 Germany-based organizations as rated and recommended (or not) by more than 715,000 current and former employees. More specifically, it builds on person–organization fit theory and analyzes how employee referrals are associated with ratings in three dimensions of inclusive workplaces (i.e., inclusion of women, elderly, and disabled). The results show that inclusive workplaces are positively and significantly related to employer attractiveness, both on aggregate and across the three dimensions. The overall relationship is stronger in the case of public employers when compared with private employers, while there are no sector differences in the relationship when comparing public and nonprofit employers. The findings suggest that inclusive workplaces are advantageous in terms of employer attractiveness, not just for the beneficiaries of such policies, but even more so in the public sector.

Exploring Variables Impacting on Employee Willingness to Accept Lower Pay for a Preferred Employer Attribute: Generation, Gender, Race, and Salary

We explore the trade-off between “preferred employer attribute” (PEA) and “willingness to accept less pay” (WTALP), finding salary, generational and for-profit versus nonprofit effects on WTALP. Study 1 reports on interviews with 23 professionals about the employer attributes they found most attractive. Three PEAs emerged: people, organizational purpose (purpose), and opportunity for growth and development. Unprompted, interviewees also mentioned willingness to accept lower pay (WTALP) in exchange for attractive job qualities. Study 2 surveyed 129 employees to explore further the PEA-WTALP tradeoff, controlling for gender, race, and salary level before testing for the impact on Generation (Z, Y, X, Baby Boomers) on WTALP, and separately comparing WTALP for-profit versus nonprofit employees. Growth and development PEA was most preferred by 67% (n=86), while 42 respondents selected purpose (n = 34) or people (n =8) PEAs. Regression analysis for the growth and development PEA-WTALP group showed that higher salary level, and Generation Z were associated with higher WTALP. In addition, surprisingly, employment at for-profit firms was associated with higher WTALP. This is the first empirical study measuring scaled levels of WTALP and testing for specific PEA-WTALP combinations. We conclude with future managerial and research implications.

Who Provides Resilience to the Community Resilience Providers?

The article focuses on employees of nonprofit organizations (NPOs) as an essential component of community resilience. Forty women, professionals in the helping professions, were interviewed about their work experiences as employees in social service NPOs. The interviews were conducted from 2019 to 2020, mostly during the COVID-19 pandemic. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to understand those employees’ perceptions of work conditions, contracting-out of social services, professional community and relationships with co-workers, work–life balance, job satisfaction, and their future plans. The findings present loneliness at work and lacking of a sense of community and a strong sense of mission while facing a challenging environment and work conditions in NPOs. In the discussion, we offer a complementary understanding of solidarity and resilience in NPOs—and we elaborate on the lack of professional “communitiness” and its possible harmful effect on the resilience of wider communities in times of crisis—when resilience is mostly needed. The paper presents NPOs employees as critical actors in producing resilience, hence there exists a need to examine their work environment, job perceptions, and the latter’s contribution to their own resilience.

Ethical workplace climate in nonprofit organizations: Conceptualization and measurement

AbstractEthical workplace climate has been extensively researched in the for‐profit context but neglected in nonprofits. Perhaps because nonprofits promote shared values, engage with people, and implement development interventions creating public good, they are considered implicitly ethical. This assumption has been questioned in recent studies. We attempted to develop a psychometrically valid scale measuring ethical workplace climate following a sequential research design to fill this gap. We interviewed 74 employees from 30 nonprofit organizations using the critical incident technique to generate statements on ethical workplace climate. The statements generated were categorized with expert judges' help, followed by a survey of 507 nonprofit employees across India. The exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and subsequent confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) resulted in a 43‐item scale, further reduced to 26 items using stepwise regression. Results of subsequent application of EFA and CFA confirmed a four‐factor solution: self‐interest, collegiality, internal legitimacy, and stewardship. A follow‐up study of 243 members of nonprofit organizations confirmed the hypothesized relationships that ethical work climate has a significant effect on affective commitment and job engagement. Finally, we discussed our findings along theoretical contributions, implications, limitations, and future direction.

Empirical Results for Investigating the Impact of Mission Attachment on the Employees’ Turnover Intentions

The employees in nonprofit organizations joined them due to their passion for the organization’s mission and accomplish it. But a deficiency exists when one evaluates the difference in pay and work conditions which significantly influence the employee’s turnover intentions in nonprofit organizations. This tested the traditional theory of mission attachment as the most significant factor for employee’s retention in nonprofit organizations with an intention to highlight the role of mission attachment employee’s turnover control. A survey was conducted, and a questionnaire was used to analyze the employee turnover intentions of nonprofit organizations over a number of predictors and criterion variables. The multiple regression analyses were run to investigate the influence. The study reported a show positive impact towards the organizations’ missions however, appeared with dissatisfaction with from the work conditions which might overrule the decision of the n employee concerning staying only organizational mission. The study finds a positive association between nonprofit work conditions and mission attachment. This led us to conclude the mission still plays a critical role in employee retention and it reduces employee dissatisfaction from the work conditions. Based on findings, implications for stakeholders and future research concerning working conditions have been outlined along with description of limitation.

Employee engagement in nonprofit organizations: the role of perception of HR and organizational culture

PurposeThe study draws on social exchange theory and theoretical perspectives on engagement to examine the multidimensional relationship between employee perception of HR practices (PHRP), organizational culture (POC) and engagement in nonprofit organizations (NPOs) in a sample of nonprofits in Canada.Design/methodology/approachThis study examines the relationship between PHRP, POC and engagement in NPOs. The authors employed a quantitative research design (Creswell, 1998) involving data from a sample of NPOs in Ontario, Canada.FindingsThe findings suggest that PHRP has a direct effect on the level of both job and organization engagement. Employee perception of the value, relevance and importance of the job and membership in the organization induce the investment of physical, cognitive and emotional energy. The study emphasizes the importance of PHRP at individual and organizational levels as antecedents of engagement.Research limitations/implicationsThe findings highlight the need to examine the contextual drivers of HR practices and engagement to better understand the multidimensional context of NPOs (Borzaga and Tortia, 2006).Practical implicationsThe evidence reiterates the need for nonprofit managers to develop and implement HR practices that advance engagement.Originality/valueAlthough what is known about nonprofit employee engagement is limited but growing (Park, Kim, Park, and Lim, 2018), the question of engagement and perception of HR in NPOs is yet to be examined.

Doing Good Work in a Crisis: Views of Pay and the COVID-19 Pandemic in the Public, Nonprofit, and For-Profit Sectors

The critical efforts of essential workers during the COVID-19 crisis might have important implications for how individuals view government, nonprofit, and for-profit sector workers and their pay. This article explores views of employees’ pay considering three rationales (anticipated judgment, motivation for work, and competency in that work) that might lead to a lower valuation of work in the public and nonprofit sectors (i.e., lower pay rationales), particularly among those who work in the for-profit sector. However, highlighting a concrete way that public and non-profit employees serve the public, such as providing services during COVID-19, might mitigate this negative effect by showing their commitment to public service in an intuitive way. Our survey experiment provides evidence that activating the competency or motivation rationales lowers the likelihood that nonprofit employees are viewed as underpaid among those who work in the for-profit sector when a concrete example of public service is not provided. However, we also find some evidence that an example of public service can help to counteract these effects.

The Greater Chaco Landscape: Ancestors, Scholarship, and Advocacy. Edited by Ruth M. Van Dyke and Carrie C. Heitman

Chaco Culture National Historical Park has long captured the attention of both the public and researchers. Despite strong disagreements over Chaco society, archaeologists had rarely spoken with descendent community members or included their voices directly in our broader understandings of this place and society. While this has been changing in recent years, we were missing a comprehensive volume that brought voices of descendent communities into conversation with Chaco researchers until the publication of The Greater Chaco Landscape: Ancestors, Scholarship, and Advocacy. As attested through the receipt of both the American Anthropological Association’s 2021 Engaged Anthropology Award and the Society for American Archaeology’s 2022 Popular Book Award, Van Dyke and Heitman compiled a compelling and wide-reaching volume bringing together an impressive breadth of scholarship and advocacy in The Greater Chaco Landscape. The book consists of seventeen chapters authored by individuals representing a range of perspectives, including academics, Indigenous community members, and National Park Service (NPS) and nonprofit employees. Stemming initially from an NPS initiative to better communicate the significance of the broader landscape and help protect the area from oil and gas development, Van Dyke and Heitman embraced a multimedia approach for the book with links to videos filmed either in Chaco Canyon or at Crow Canyon Archaeological Center during a seminar held in 2017 for all but the final chapter. Six of the chapters exist only as videos available on the University Press of Colorado’s website (http://read.upcolorado.com/projects/the-greater-chaco-landscape/) with helpful abstracts and links available within the hard copy of the book; this style of presenting information embraced the communication styles and strengths of the variety of contributors. Within the volume, chapters are divided into seven sections that highlight Understudied Landscape Dimensions; Indigenous Perspectives; Experiencing the Landscape; Geospatial Investigations and Big Data; and Management, in addition to introductory and concluding sections. The range of chapters strikes an important cord of multivocality, allowing many groups with stakes in Chaco Canyon and the surrounding region to contribute and be heard.

Outsourcing Neighborhood Planning Processes? A Case Study of a Nonprofit in the City of Oklahoma City

Nonprofits are key in local community development and often work in tandem with or against municipal governments in neighborhood planning. We focus on a unique case of a local government that largely contracts neighborhood planning processes to a nonprofit in Oklahoma City. Using thirty-nine interviews with municipal staff, nonprofit employees, and stakeholders, we examine the benefits and consequences of this contracting relationship on participatory processes. The findings reveal that the nonprofit excels at grassroots resident engagement but also faces constraints due to contract benchmarks. The findings offer implications on co-creating subcontractor goals and disparate neighborhood planning service outcomes.

Motivations behind Vaccine Hesitancy: Examining Altruism and Government Distrust across Job Sectors during COVID-19

This article examines vaccination and vaccine hesitancy during the COVID-19 pandemic by focusing on the role of altruism and distrust in government across different job sectors. Using the Household Pulse Survey, a nationally representative and near real-time dataset administered by the United States Census Bureau, our findings suggest that there is a clear difference in vaccine take-up and vaccine hesitancy across job sectors. We find that government and nonprofit employees are more likely to receive vaccines and, if not vaccinated yet, are less vaccine-hesitant than private-sector employees. Additionally, motivations behind vaccine hesitancy, particularly altruism and distrust in government, varied according to one’s sector affiliation. Government and nonprofit employees, compared to private employees, were more likely to be vaccine hesitant for altruistic motivations. Differences in government distrust across sectors bore unexpected results, as we found no difference between government and private employees, while nonprofit employees were less likely to be vaccine hesitant due to government distrust. We discuss the implications and contributions of this article and suggest future agenda for COVID-19 research and sector comparison literature.

Trauma-Informed Public Management: A Step toward Addressing Hidden Inequalities and Improving Employee Wellbeing

Public management practices that take a holistic approach are increasingly necessary; trauma-informed care, when embedded within public service, recognizes histories, experiences, and emotions of individuals. Many public servants experience vicarious trauma, by the very nature of their work, and there is a need to recognize this reality and use tools and techniques that are appropriately trauma-informed. Many organizations utilize trauma-informed care principles to engage with clients or citizens in arenas like social work, mental health, or addiction care, yet fewer organizations take a trauma-informed approach with their own employees to provide a safe and supportive workplace. Trauma-informed public management, conceptualized as embedding the six principles of trauma-informed practices into an organizational ethos, represents an opportunity to center the affective needs of public and nonprofit employees and managers who often bring their own traumatic experiences with them to their role and/or experience vicarious trauma in their jobs. The authors use applied examples from public sector responses to the COVID-19 pandemic — a prolonged and traumatic experience shared by public servants and citizens alike — to demonstrate these six principles and outline how trauma-informed techniques can be implemented now to benefit the public sector workforce.