Skip to main content

Hybridization and Hybridity

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:

Definition

Hybridization generally refers to the process and hybridity to the product of a mixture of essentially contradictory and conflicting elements. We refer to it here as a combination of the characteristics of civil society, market, and state and mainly focus on hybrid organizations, as these have raised the most pressing questions in research on civil society. These hybrid organizations operate at the borders between the spheres of the market, state, and civil society and combine the characteristics and logics conventionally attached to each of them (Billis and Rochester 2020; Brandsen et al. 2005; Denis et al. 2015; Karré 2011, 2020; Koppenjan et al. 2019; Skelcher and Smith 2014; Vakkuri and Johanson 2018). By doing so, they “(1) involve a variety of stakeholders, (2) pursue multiple and often conflicting goals, (3) engage in divergent or inconsistent activities” (Mair et al. 2015, p. 714). Examples of hybrid organizations include non-profits that deliver public services and...

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

References

  • Anheier, H. K., & Krlev, G. (2015). Guest editors’ introduction. International Studies of Management & Organization, 45(3), 193–206.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Battilana, J., & Lee, M. (2014). Advancing research on hybrid organizing – Insights from the study of social enterprises. The Academy of Management Annals, 8(1), 397–441.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Billis, D. (2010a). Hybrid organizations and the third sector: Challenges for practice, theory and policy. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Billis, D. (2010b). Towards a theory of hybrid organizations. In D. Billis (Ed.), Hybrid organizations and the third sector : Challenges for practice, theory and policy (pp. 46–69). Basingstoke/New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Billis, D., & Rochester, C. (eds.) (2020). International Handbook of Hybrid Organizations. Cheltenham Glos: Edward Elgar.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bode, I. (2008). The culture of the welfare markets. The international recasting of pension and care systems. New York/London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brandsen, T. (2004). Quasi-market governance: An anatomy of innovation. The Hague: Lemma.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brandsen, T., & Karré, P. M. (2011). Hybrid organizations: No cause for concern? International Journal of Public Administration, 34(13), 827–836.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brandsen, T., Van de Donk, W., & Putters, K. (2005). Griffins or chameleons? Hybridity as a permanent and inevitable characteristic of the third sector. International Journal of Public Administration, 28(9–10), 749–765.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brandsen, T., Steen, T., & Verschuere, B. (Eds.). (2018). Co-production and co-creation: Engaging citizens in public services. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brès, L., Raufflet, E., & Boghossian, J. (2018). Pluralism in organizations: Learning from unconventional forms of organizations. International Journal of Management Reviews, 20(2), 364–386.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Christensen, T., & Lægreid, P. (2010). Complexity and hybrid public administration – Theoretical and empirical challenges. Public Organization Review, 11(4), 407–423.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Defourny, J., & Nyssens, M. (2017). Mapping social enterprise models: Some evidence from the “ICSEM” project. Social Enterprise Journal, 13(4), 318–328.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Denis, J.-L., Ferlie, E., & van Gestel, N. (2015). Understanding hybridity in public organizations. Public Administration, 93(2), 273–289.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Doherty, B., Haugh, H., & Lyon, F. (2014). Social enterprises as hybrid organizations: A review and research agenda. International Journal of Management Reviews, 16(4), 417–436.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ebrahim, A., Battilana, J., & Mair, J. (2014). The governance of social enterprises: Mission drift and accountability challenges in hybrid organizations. Research in Organizational Behavior, 34, 81–100.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Emery, G. Y., & Giauque, D. (2014). The hybrid universe of public administration in the 21st century. International Review of Administrative Sciences, 80(1), 23–32.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Frumkin, P. (2002). On being non-profit. A conceptual and policy primer. Cambridge (MA): Harvard University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Honingh, M. E. (2008). Teachers and middle managers in a hybrid educational sector. In S. Osborne (Ed.), The third sector in Europe (pp. 293–306). London: Routledge.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Karré, P. M. (2011). Heads and tails: Both sides of the coin : An analysis of hybrid organizations in the Dutch waste management sector. The Hague: Eleven International Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Karré, P. M. (2018). Navigating between opportunities and risks: The effects of hybridity for social enterprises engaged in social innovation. The Journal of Entrepreneurial and Organizational Diversity, 7(1), 37–60.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Karré, P. M. (2020). Hybrid organisations: Between state and market. In D. Billis & C. Rochester (Eds.), International handbook on hybrid organizations (pp. 31–47). Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Karré, P. M. (2021). Value creation by two types of hybrid organizations: Opportunities and risks. In J. Vakkuri & J.-E. Johanson (Eds.), Hybrid governance, organisations and society. Value creation perspectives (pp. 202–218). London/New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Koppenjan, J. F. M., Karré, P. M., & Termeer, C. J. A. M. (Eds.). (2019). Smart hybridity. Potentials and challenges of new governance arrangements. The Hague: Eleven International Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mair, J., & Martí, I. (2006). Social entrepreneurship research: A source of explanation, prediction, and delight. Journal of World Business, 41(1), 36–44.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mair, J., Mayer, J., & Lutz, E. (2015). Navigating institutional plurality: Organizational governance in hybrid organizations. Organization Studies, 36(6), 713–739.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McLaughlin, K., Osborne, S. P., & Ferlie, E. (2006). New public management: Current trends and future prospects. London/New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pache, A.-C., & Santos, F. (2013). Inside the hybrid organization: Selective coupling as a response to competing institutional logics. Academy of Management Journal, 56(4), 972–1001.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pollitt, C., & Bouckaert, G. (2004). Public management reform (2nd ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Powell, M., Gillett, A., & Doherty, B. (2019). Sustainability in social enterprise: Hybrid organizing in public services. Public Management Review, 21(2), 159–186. https://doi.org/10.1080/14719037.2018.1438504.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Skelcher, C., & Smith, S. R. (2014). Theorizing hybridity: Institutional logics, complex organizations, and actor identities: The case of nonprofits. Public Administration, 93(2), 433–448.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smith, S. R. (2014). Hybridity and nonprofit organizations: The research agenda. American Behavioral Scientist, 58(11), 1494–1508.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Suykens, B., de Rynck, F., & Verschuere, B. (2020). Examining the extent and coherence of nonprofit hybridization toward the market in a post-corporatist welfare state. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 49(5), 909–930.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thornton, P. H., Ocasio, W., & Lounsbury, M. (2012). The institutional logics perspective: A new approach to culture, structure, and process. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Vakkuri, J., & Johanson, J.-E. (2018). Governing hybrid organisations: Exploring diversity of institutional life. London/New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Taco Brandsen or Philip Marcel Karré .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Section Editor information

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2021 Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this entry

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this entry

Brandsen, T., Karré, P.M. (2021). Hybridization and Hybridity. In: List, R.A., Anheier, H.K., Toepler, S. (eds) International Encyclopedia of Civil Society. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-99675-2_34-1

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-99675-2_34-1

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-99675-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-99675-2

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Social SciencesReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences

Publish with us

Policies and ethics