Nonprofit organizations in between the nonprofit and market spheres: Shifting goals, governance and management?

• Published in: Nonprofit management & leadership Vol. 29; no. 4; pp. 623 - 636
• Main Authors: Suykens, Ben, De Rynck, Filip, Verschuere, Bram
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Hoboken, USA Wiley Periodicals, Inc 01.06.2019; Wiley Subscription Services, Inc
• Subjects: commercialization; Governance; hybrid; Legitimacy; managerialization; marketization; Measurement; New public management; nonprofit organization; Nonprofit organizations; Public administration; Redefinition; Trade
• ISSN: 1048-6682; 1542-7854
• DOI: 10.1002/nml.21347

In spite of the belief instilled by the New Public Management reforms that nonprofit organizations (NPOs) can benefit from more management, more measurement and more market practices, systematic knowledge on the organizational effects of NPOs incorporating business practices in their day‐to‐day functioning remains absent to date. This research note addresses this limitation by reviewing 49 research articles. The focus lies on the redefinition of nonprofits' mission and income streams, changing governance arrangements and shifting management practices. We find that, despite numerous detrimental effects cited in the literature, (a) generating commercial income can contribute to the financial stability of NPOs, and (b) hybridization towards the market domain can strengthen the organizational legitimacy of NPOs, suggesting that imitating for‐profit enterprises might contribute to nonprofit functioning in perception, rather than in practice.