Environmental constraints, governance patterns, and organizational responsiveness: A study of representation in nonprofit organizations

This dissertation investigates the issue of representation in nonprofit organizations. Specifically, the purpose of the study is to examine how environmental factors shape an organization's governance pattern by compromising its descriptive representation of community interests and how such compromise affects its substantive representation of community interests.; In order to examine the above questions, a theoretical framework containing the following major components is provided. The first component is a typology of governance patterns of nonprofit organizations. The second component considers the joint effects of resource dependence and institutional factors on nonprofit governance patterns. The third one is an attention-based view of nonprofit organizations based on which the effects of governance patterns and other contextual variables on organizational responsiveness to issues in the community are examined.; The research methodology includes a mail survey and a case study. The survey data is collected on four hundred randomly sampled nonprofit organizations in Los Angeles. The findings show that governmental dependence tends to reduce the levels of descriptive representation in nonprofit organizations through two possible mechanisms---the funding dependence effect and the legitimizing effect; and that these effects are counter-balanced by dependence on volunteer labor, which tends to increase the levels of descriptive representation in nonprofit organizations.; The case study is conducted on a nonprofit human service organization in Los Angeles. Findings from the case study suggest that the link between descriptive representation and substantial representation is contingent on a set of environmental and contextual factors. The study has illustrated the contrasting effects of two types of contextual factors---funding opportunities and "focusing events"---on organizational responsiveness. While funding opportunities tend to reduce organizational responsiveness through pre-defined issues and pre-guaranteed funding availability, "focusing events" might increase organizational responsiveness by diminishing the advantages of funding agencies and organizational decision-makers in framing issues in the community.; Overall, the study demonstrates the context-dependent nature of the representative ability of nonprofit organizations, and highlights the importance of understanding the conditions under which nonprofit organizations may be more representative of community interests.