Organizational Determinants of Political Involvement in Trade and Professional Membership Associations

Saitgalina Marina (), Dicke Lisa A. () and Birungi Patricia ()
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Saitgalina Marina: School of Public Service, Old Dominion University, 23529Norfolk, United States of America
Dicke Lisa A.: Department of Public Administration, University of North Texas, Denton, United States of America
Birungi Patricia: Department of Business Administration and Management, Albertus Magnus College, New Haven, United States of America

Nonprofit Policy Forum, 2020, vol. 11, issue 1, 15

Abstract: Trade and business associations and professional membership societies like many other political interest groups in the United States advocate and lobby their interests in the policy arena. Yet, we lack the understanding of how organizational capabilities shape different forms of political engagement in trade and professional associations. Research on the political involvement of tax-exempt organizations has been focused on charitable nonprofits. Studying the elements that underlie political action strategies and tactics of trade and professional associations would expand our understanding of political engagement in the nonprofit sector. In our sample of occupational mutual benefit associations, both resource dependence and institutional factors such as board size, affiliated foundation, tax-exempt status, business classification, and membership type explained the likelihood of political strategies including advocacy, lobbying, grassroots activity, and having a political action committee (PAC). Organizational size characteristics such as budget, staff, and membership size mattered as well.

Keywords: trade associations; professional associations; political engagement (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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DOI: 10.1515/npf-2019-0004

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