Much has been written about the dual roles played by nonprofits in delivering social services and in promoting civic engagement. Yet little is known about how nonprofits balance these sometimes conflicting aims, and even less is known about specific factors that shape the degree of involvement of nonprofits in the market place of service provision or in the community space of a democratic civil society. Using a mixed methods approach, this dissertation explores factors that promote or deter the engagement of 501c3 nonprofit arts and cultural organizations in both civic and market functions. Drawing on in-depth interviews with executive directors at 21 nonprofit arts organizations across the US, this study identified key factors that may account for engagement in civic and market functions: organizational culture, leadership, networks, institutional norms, operational capacity, and the nature of the community. To systematically test these grounded hypotheses, questionnaires were administered to executive directors of 3,129 randomly selected US nonprofit arts organizations. A total of 909 completed survey responses were then merged with financial data on each organization from the IRS Forms 990, as well as US Census Bureau data on the surrounding counties. Overall, the nonprofits surveyed reported more involvement in market functions than in civic functions. The regression analyses suggest that nonprofit arts organizations are civically more involved when they experience greater influence of volunteers and funders. Most importantly, engagement in diverse and expansive networks is strongly associated with high levels of civic engagement, consistent with the qualitative interviews. Not surprisingly, organizations that perceive stronger emphasis on civic affairs placed by peer organizations tend to show a greater involvement themselves in civic functions. The impacts of these factors, however, vary across 10 different types of arts and cultural organizations. The analytic results provide some evidence that executive directors’ personal values are closely related to these organizations’ approach toward civic issues. Also, civically less engaged arts organizations appear to be in financially worse position. Although these findings are based on the arts and cultural sector, the results have implications for other nonprofit subsectors and provide implications for the role of nonprofits in general.
Subject (authority = RUETD)
Topic
Public Administration (SPAA)
RelatedItem (type = host)
TitleInfo
Title
Rutgers University Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Identifier (type = RULIB)
ETD
Identifier
ETD_5619
PhysicalDescription
Form (authority = gmd)
electronic resource
InternetMediaType
application/pdf
InternetMediaType
text/xml
Extent
ix, 170 p. : ill.
Note (type = degree)
Ph.D.
Note (type = bibliography)
Includes bibliographical references
Note (type = vita)
Includes vita
Note (type = statement of responsibility)
by Mirae Kim
Subject (authority = ETD-LCSH)
Topic
Nonprofit organizations--Political activity--United States
RelatedItem (type = host)
TitleInfo
Title
Graduate School - Newark Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Identifier (type = local)
rucore10002600001
Location
PhysicalLocation (authority = marcorg); (displayLabel = Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey)
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