| ID | 159418 |
| Title Proper | Humanitarian NGOs as businesses and managers |
| Other Title Information | theoretical reflection on an under-explored phenomenon |
| Language | ENG |
| Author | Joachim, Jutta ; Schneiker, Andrea ; Jutta Joachim Andrea Schneiker |
| Summary / Abstract (Note) | Humanitarian nonprofit nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) today exhibit signs of “marketization” and behave like firms, according to a frequently uttered claim in the scholarly literature. However, it is not precisely clear what marketization and behaving like a firm mean. Drawing on the literature concerning nonprofit organizations and public administration, we offer a more sophisticated and multifaceted understanding of a consequential development for NGOs. Rather than merely equating “firm-like” with the adoption of corporate practices, we conceive of it as a mind-set. We suggest that “firm-like” involves not only marketization, but also corporatization and organizational rationalization. Based on a content analysis of the websites of a heterogeneous sample of nine humanitarian NGOs, we illustrate the potential of this conceptualization to shed light on a discourse among these organizations that appears to be self-referential and self-aggrandizing with respect to their capacities. |
| `In' analytical Note | International Studies Perspectives Vol. 19, No.2; May 2018: p. 170–187 |
| Journal Source | International Studies Perspectives 2018-06 19, 2 |
| Key Words | Marketization ; Commercialization ; Humanitarian NGOs ; Organizational Rationalization |