TY - JOUR

T1 - Mate or Menace? Exploring Organizational Identity Threats in Nonprofit-Business Partnerships

AU - Kandel, India J.

AU - Baluch, Alina M.

AU - Piening, Erk P.

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © The Author(s) 2023.

PY - 2024/10

Y1 - 2024/10

N2 - Nonprofit organizations frequently engage in partnerships with profit-oriented businesses to fulfill their goals and social mission. Although nonprofit-business partnerships can benefit both parties, they are a potential source of intra-organizational controversy and conflict, especially when social objectives clash with business interests. An increasingly recognized risk of nonprofit-business partnerships lies in organizational identity threats. Adopting a sensemaking perspective, we investigate how nonprofit members make sense of nonprofit-business partnerships and how these appraisal processes influence whether they perceive these inter-organizational partnerships as organizational identity threats. Our qualitative study draws on semi-structured interviews and shows that nonprofit members’ evaluations of partnership congruence (i.e., the perceived fit of a partnership with members’ organizational identity expectations) and partnership relevance (i.e., the perceived meaning of a partnership for an organization’s identity) influence whether they perceive partnerships as organizational identity threats. In doing so, we extend research on organizational identity threats (and opportunities) of nonprofit-business partnerships.

AB - Nonprofit organizations frequently engage in partnerships with profit-oriented businesses to fulfill their goals and social mission. Although nonprofit-business partnerships can benefit both parties, they are a potential source of intra-organizational controversy and conflict, especially when social objectives clash with business interests. An increasingly recognized risk of nonprofit-business partnerships lies in organizational identity threats. Adopting a sensemaking perspective, we investigate how nonprofit members make sense of nonprofit-business partnerships and how these appraisal processes influence whether they perceive these inter-organizational partnerships as organizational identity threats. Our qualitative study draws on semi-structured interviews and shows that nonprofit members’ evaluations of partnership congruence (i.e., the perceived fit of a partnership with members’ organizational identity expectations) and partnership relevance (i.e., the perceived meaning of a partnership for an organization’s identity) influence whether they perceive partnerships as organizational identity threats. In doing so, we extend research on organizational identity threats (and opportunities) of nonprofit-business partnerships.

KW - cross-sector partnerships

KW - nonprofit organizations

KW - nonprofit-business partnerships

KW - organizational identity threats

KW - sensemaking

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85177062221&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1177/08997640231210780

DO - 10.1177/08997640231210780

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85177062221

VL - 53

SP - 1156

EP - 1180

JO - Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly

JF - Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly

SN - 0899-7640

IS - 5

ER -