Do the Boundaries Between the Nonprofit, Public and Business Sectors Blur?: Comparing “Within the Nonprofit Sector Collaboration Networks” and “Inter-Sector Collaboration Networks” in the Social Service Field in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Chisung Park

International Review of Public Administration, 2008, vol. 13, issue 2, 81-95

Abstract: Many of the current debates in public and nonprofit management have focused on the blurring boundaries between the nonprofit, business, and public sectors. However, surprisingly little empirical research has been conducted on this phenomenon. In order to bridge this knowledge gap, this study compares “within the nonprofit sector collaboration patterns” with “cross-sector collaboration patterns” from a network perspective. This study adopts a blockmodel that is useful for reducing complex networks into concise and easily understandable forms. Using a survey of 33 nonprofit organizations in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, this study uncovers the hidden patterns of collaboration. First, this study provides empirical evidence that when nonprofits collaborate with other sector organizations, boundaries blur and new network structures replace the existing network structures that are composed exclusively of nonprofits. Second, when nonprofits collaborate with other sector organizations, some nonprofits become strategically significant in that they play a coordinating role between other nonprofits and business/public organizations.

Date: 2008
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/12294659.2008.10805123 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:rrpaxx:v:13:y:2008:i:2:p:81-95

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.tandfonline.com/pricing/journal/RRPA20

DOI: 10.1080/12294659.2008.10805123

Access Statistics for this article

International Review of Public Administration is currently edited by Ralph Brower

More articles in International Review of Public Administration from Taylor & Francis Journals
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Longhurst ().