Abstract
This paper assesses the extent of structural similarity or isomorphism among nonprofit organizations in Australia. Based on neo-institutional theory, the paper explains such isomorphism in terms of these organizations’ subordination and dependency, the uncertainties they face, and the networks of experts of which they are a part. The analysis uses the nonprofit component of a 2001–2002 random sample of Australian employment organizations. It finds surprisingly little isomorphism in this subsample and few differences in isomorphism according to the level of the factors thought to produce similarity. The discussion of the findings focuses on the suitability of the nonprofit sector as the appropriate organizational field within which isomorphism involving these organizations is likely to be produced. Industries, which include all organizations that produce the same product or service, be they nonprofit, for-profit, or government, may be more appropriate interactional fields for the development of isomorphism.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Abzug, R. (1999). Nonprofits in organizational sociology’s research traditions: An empirical study. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly 28, 330–338.
Abzug, R., and Galaskiewicz, J. (2001). Nonprofit boards: Crucibles of expertise or symbols of local identities? Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly 30, 51–73.
Anheier, H. K. (2003). Dimensions of the nonprofit sector. In H. K. Anheier and A. Ben-Ner (eds.), The Study of Nonprofit Enterprise: Theories and Approaches, Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers, New York, pp. 247–276.
Barman, E. A. (2002). Asserting difference: The strategic response of nonprofit organizations to competition. Social Forces 80, 1191–1222.
Bedeian, A. G., and Mossholder, K. W. (2000). On the use of the coefficient of variation as a measure of diversity. Organizational Research Methods 3, 285–297.
Bidwell, C. (2001). Analyzing schools as organizations: Long-term permanence and short-term change. Sociology of Education 74(Extra Issue), 100–114.
Bielefeld, W. (1992). Non-profit-funding environment relations: Theory and application. Voluntas 3, 48–70.
Brown, W., Deakin, S., Nash, D., and Oxenbridge, S. (2000). The employment contract: From collective procedures to individual rights. British Journal of Industrial Relations 38, 611–629.
Chang, C. F., and Tuckman, H. P. (1994). Revenue diversification among non-profits. Voluntas 5, 273–290.
Cleary, M. (2001). The Management Dilemmas in Catholic Human Service Organisations (Health, Welfare and Education) in Australia, Dissertation, School of Management, Faculty of Business, University of Technology, Sydney.
Darr, A., and Stern, R. N. (2002). Coopting change toward industrial democracy: Professionals as agents of structural constraint. Sociological Inquiry 72, 171–194.
DiMaggio, P. J., and Anheier, H. K. (1990). The sociology of nonprofit organizations and sectors. Annual Review of Sociology 16, 137–159.
DiMaggio, P. J., and Powell, W. W. (1983). The iron cage revisited: Institutional isomorphism and collective rationality in organizational fields. American Sociological Review 48, 147–160.
Gerth, H., and Mills, C. W. (1946). From Max Weber: Essays in Sociology, Oxford University Press, New York.
Hall, P. D. (1994). Historical perspectives on nonprofit organizations. In R. D. Herman and Associates (eds.), The Jossey-Bass Handbook of Nonprofit Leadership and Management, Jossey-Bass Publishers, San Francisco, pp. 3–43.
Hannan, M. T., and Freeman, J. (1977). The population ecology of organizations. American Journal of Sociology 82, 929–964.
Hannan, M. T., and Freeman, J. (1984). Structural inertia and organizational change. American Sociological Review 49, 149–164.
Hansmann, H. B. (1986). The role of nonprofit enterprise. In S. Rose-Ackerman (ed.), The Economics of Nonprofit Institutions: Studies in Structure and Policy, Oxford University Press, New York, pp. 57–84.
Industry Commission. (1995). Charitable Organizations in Australia, Australian Government Publishing Service, Melbourne.
Kalleberg, A. L., Marsden, P. V., Aldrich, H. E., and Cassell, J. W. (1990). Comparing organizational sampling frames. Administrative Science Quarterly 35, 658–688.
Kalleberg, A. L., Marsden, P. V., Knoke, D., and Spaeth, J. L. (1996). Formalizing the employment relation: Internal labor markets and dispute resolution procedures. In A. L., Kalleberg, D. Knoke, P. V. Marsden, and J. L. Spaeth (eds.), Organizations in America: Analyzing Their Structures and Human Resource Practices, Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA, pp. 87–112.
Kanter, R. M., and Summers, D. V. (1987). Doing well while doing good: Dilemmas of performance measurement in nonprofit organizations and the need for a multiple-constituency approach. In W. W. Powell (ed.), The Nonprofit Sector: A Research Handbook, Yale University Press, New Haven, pp. 154–166.
Knapp, M., and Davis Smith, J. (1995). Who Volunteers and Why? The Key Factors Which Determine Volunteering, Personal Social Services Research Unit at the University of Kent and the Volunteer Centre, London, UK.
Kramer, R. M. (1994). Voluntary agencies and the contract culture: “Dream or nightmare?” Social Service Review 68, 33–60.
Lammers, J. C. (1990). The effect of competition on labor management in nonprofit organizations. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly 19, 171–186.
Levene, H. (1960). Robust tests for equality of variances. In I. Olkin (ed.), Contributions to Probability and Statistics: Essays in Honor of Harold Hotelling, Stanford University Press, Stanford, CA, pp. 278–292.
Lounsbury, M. (2001). Institutional sources of practice variation: Staffing college and university recycling. Administrative Science Quarterly 46, 29–56.
Lune, H., and Martinez, M. (1999). Old structures, new relations: How community development credit unions define organizational boundaries. Sociological Forum 14, 609–634.
Lyons, M. (2001). Third Sector: The Contribution of Nonprofit and Cooperative Enterprises in Australia, Allen Unwin, Crows Nest, NSW, Australia.
Lyons, M., and Hocking, S. (2000). Dimensions of Australia’s Third Sector: Report of the Australian Nonprofit Data Project, Centre for Australian Community Organisations and Management (CACOM), University of Technology, Sydney.
Lyons, M., Hocking, S., Hems, L., and Salamon, L. M. (1999). Australia. In L. M. Salamon, H. K. Anheier, R. List, S. Toepler, S. W. Sokolowski, and Associates (eds.), Global Civil Society: Dimensions of the Nonprofit Sector, Johns Hopkins Center for Civil Society Studies, Baltimore, MD, pp. 203–217.
Lyons, M., and Nyland, J. (1995). Supporting the Managers: An Analysis of the Management Support Needs of Community Organisations and Proposals for Better Meeting These Needs, Centre for Community Organisations and Management (CACOM), University of Technology, Sydney.
May, J. (1996). The role of peak bodies in a civil society. In A. Farrar, and J. Inglis (eds.), Keeping It Together: State and Civil Society in Australia, Pluto Press Australia, Leichhardt, NSW, pp. 245–272.
McIlwee, J. S., and Robinson, J. G. (1992). Women in Engineering: Gender, Power, and Workplace Culture, State University of New York Press, Albany, NY.
Melville, R. (1999). Nonprofit umbrella organisations in a contracting regime: A comparative review of Australian, British and American literature and experience. International Journal of Not-for-Profit Law 1(4). http://www.icnl.org/journal/Vol1iss4/index.html.
Melville, R. (2003). Changing Roles of Community Sector Peak Bodies in a Neo-Liberal Policy Environment in Australia: An ARC Funded Study (2000–2002), Institute of Social Change and Critical Inquiry, Faculty of Arts, University of Wollongong, Wollongong.
Meyer, J. W., and Rowan, B. (1977). Institutionalized organizations: Formal structure as myth and ceremony. American Journal of Sociology 83, 340–363.
Morrill, C., and McKee, C. (1993). Institutional isomorphism and informal social control: Evidence from a community mediation center. Social Problems 40, 445–463.
Mueller, C. W., De Coster, S., and Estes, S. B. (2001). Sexual harassment in the workplace: Unanticipated consequences of modern social control in organizations. Work and Occupations 28, 411–446.
Muetzelfeldt, M. (1998). Governments and the non-profit sector: A comment. Third Sector Review 4, 119–123.
Mulhare, E. M. (1999). Mindful of the future: Strategic planning ideology and the culture of nonprofit management. Human Organization 58, 323–330.
Nowland-Foreman, G. (1998). Purchase-of-service contracting, voluntary organizations, and civil society. American Behavioral Scientist 42, 108–123.
Oliver, C. (1988). The collective strategy framework: An application to competing predictions of isomorphism. Administrative Science Quarterly 33, 543–561.
Peyrot, M. (1991). Institutional and organizational dynamics in community-based drug abuse treatment. Social Problems 38, 20–33.
Pfeffer, J., and Salancik, G. R. (1978). The External Control of Organizations: A Resource Dependence Perspective, Harper and Row, New York.
Plastrik, P., and Taylor, M. (2004). Network Power for Philanthropy and Nonprofits (Draft 4.1), Barr Foundation Network Research Project, Boston, MA.
Pynes, J. E. (1997). The anticipated growth of nonprofit unionism. Nonprofit Management and Leadership 7, 355–371.
Riiskjaer, S., and Nielsen, K. (1987). Financial dependence and organizational autonomy: The economy of voluntary sport in Denmark. International Review for the Sociology of Sport 22, 193–208.
Rowan, B. (1982). Organizational structure and the institutional environment: The case of public schools. Administrative Science Quarterly 27, 259–279.
Scheid-Cook, T. L. (1992). Organizational enactments and conformity to environmental prescriptions. Human Relations 45, 537–554.
Siciliano, J. I. (1997). The relationship between formal planning and performance in nonprofit organizations. Nonprofit Management and Leadership 7, 387–403.
Skoldberg, K. (1991). Strategic change in Swedish higher education. Higher Education 21, 551–572.
Steane, P. (2001). Governance: Convergent expectations, divergent practices. Corporate Governance 1, 15–19.
Steane, P. D., and Christie, M. (2001). Nonprofit boards in Australia: A distinctive governance approach. Corporate Governance 9, 48–58.
Stinchcombe, A. (1965). Social structure and organizations. In J. G. March (ed.), Handbook of Organizations, Rand-McNally, Chicago, pp. 142–193.
Tomaskovic-Devey, D., Kalleberg, A. L., and Marsden, P. V. (1996). Organizational patterns of gender segregation. In A. L. Kalleberg, D. Knoke, P. V. Marsden, and J. L. Spaeth (eds.), Organizations in America, Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA, pp. 276–301.
Tomaskovic-Devey, D., Leiter, J., and Thompson, S. (1994). Organizational survey nonresponse. Administrative Science Quarterly 39, 439–457.
Volunteering Western Australia. (2001). Volunteering in Western Australia: Trends and Patterns 1995 to 2000, Department of the Premier and Cabinet, Government of Western Australia, Perth.
Weisbrod, B. A. (1986). Toward a theory of the voluntary nonprofit sector in a three-sector economy. In S. Rose-Ackerman (ed.), The Economics of Nonprofit Institutions: Studies in Structure and Policy, Oxford University Press, New York, pp. 21–44.
Western, B. (1997). Between Class and Market: Postwar Unionization in the Capitalist Democracies, Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Leiter, J. Structural Isomorphism in Australian Nonprofit Organizations. Voluntas 16, 1–31 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11266-005-3230-1
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11266-005-3230-1