CSR and service quality in nonprofit organizations: the case of a performing arts association

• The relationship between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and marketing performance has been widely investigated recently, but mostly in relation to for-profit companies. This paper highlights the importance of this topic for nonprofit organizations (NPOs). Focusing on an Italian NPO operating in the performing arts and entertainment industry, two empirical studies (a quantitative survey and a qualitative exploratory enquiry) prove the strategic relevance of CSR in nonprofit contexts. The results demonstrate that CSR can be considered an additional dimension of the customer perception of service quality in NPOs and reveal that customer perception of the social responsibility of the studied NPO is strongly linked to its institutional mission and to the modalities through which it pursues that mission.

Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Improving the financial sustainability of nonprofit organizations through tourism-related activities

One of the greatest problems facing nonprofit organizations (NPOs) is the lack of funding, which directly jeopardises their work. NPOs working in tourist destinations have the opportunity of satisfying this need through tourism, by linking the objectives of their own activities to the objectives of tourist destinations. This article aims to establish whether NPOs working in tourism have capitalised on tourism as a means for increasing their own income. In other words, do NPOs that more frequently conduct tourism-related activities have a higher level of financial sustainability, reflected in a higher share of income from self-funding activities than from donations and grants? To this end, primary research was conducted using a questionnaire on a sample of 205 NPOs whose activities impact tourism and which operate in one of the four most developed tourist destinations in Croatia with regard to tourist traffic in the past 10 years (Poreč, Rovinj, Dubrovnik and Medulin). Research results indicate that an increase in the frequency of conducting activities directly impacting tourism is paralleled by an increase in the share of income generated by active self-funding (income from selling products and providing services) and other types of self-funding (income from memberships fees and assets), with a decrease in the share of income from donations and grants. This study contributes to the existing knowledge by connecting NPOs with the tourism system and by identifying and defining opportunities for NPO self-funding through tourism as a means of improving NPO financial sustainability.     

Relationship marketing,audience retention and performing arts organisation viability

Marketing strategy in performing arts organisations has become particularly important in the increasingly competitive environment in which the arts operate. Since the late 1980s there has been a necessary shift in focus to audience development away from product development. This change in focus is being encouraged to ensure the long‐term viability of performing arts organisations (PAOs) and micro‐economic reform. While government reports have recommended strategies aimed at building audience‐based recognition, this is an expensive approach for many PAOs and does not produce short‐term returns. Little attention has been paid to building enduring relationships with existing audiences as a way of having a more dramatic impact on PAOs' long‐term viability. This paper explores this theme through relationship marketing and the implication of retaining existing audiences. The paper identifies the changing cultural environment which has led to the importance of marketing. It then explains the concepts of relationship marketing and its pertinence to PAOs' viability by presenting a loyalty ladder. The structure is modelled as a dynamic conceptualisation of the relationships (audience and organisation) to assist arts managers to decide whether to focus their efforts on catching or keeping customers to maximise earned income. Copyright © 2002 Henry Stewart Publications     

The marketing and public relations practices of Australian performing arts presenters

Although arts organisations are often said to be underdeveloped in marketing and management areas, it is unclear whether this is actually an intentional response to the atypical environment in which they exist, or simply a result of limited skills and resources. This paper looks at performing arts presenters (PAPs) in two Australian States, profiling what they do in the way of marketing, how sophisticated they are at it and the reasons they behave the way they do. In‐depth interviews with marketing managers indicated that PAPs are confused about the role of marketing, relying instead mainly on public relations. While it was widely acknowledged that marketing would be beneficial, the marketing that is executed is generally ad hoc and basic. This lack of marketing action is due primarily to a paucity of skills and resources and a historical preference for public relations, not as a considered response to the arts environment. Copyright © 2002 Henry Stewart Publications     

Marketing expense and financial performance in arts and cultural organizations

Nonprofit arts and cultural organizations use marketing to sustain viability. This study uses data from the Cultural Data Project to examine the effects of marketing on revenue in arts and cultural organizations. The current analysis demonstrates that total marketing expense is positively related to total revenue. Marketing expense used for fund‐raising positively influences donation income, as intended, whereas commercial income is not affected. Alternatively, marketing expense for programs positively influences both commercial income, as intended, and donation income. The novel finding from this study is that marketing expense mainly targeting non‐donor ticket buyers not only increases commercial income but also augments donation income in arts and cultural organizations.     

Market orientation and marketing in nonprofit organizations. Indications for fundraising from Victoria

The effectiveness of a market orientation has been established in other parts of the world. Using a modified replication study of 401 nonprofit organizations from Victoria, this research took some initial steps to assess fundraising and marketing activities. Studies in Australia have usually focused on only one part of the Third Sector. This study takes a different view and uses a criteria sampling method to survey all 11 sections named by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. The self‐reported data of fundraising activities showed that there were several choices available to all nonprofit organizations that can lead to an improvement in organizational performance. Results suggest that should nonprofit organizations have knowledge generating systems that evaluate their performance, this will improve outcomes for them. Even though organizational size is strongly linked to fundraising performance, there are key drivers that can aid even small organizations in their efforts. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Efficiency,stability and the decision to give to nonprofit arts and cultural organizations in the United States

• Using data from the Cultural Data Project, this study extends the literature by examining the impact of financial disclosure information on donations to arts and culture‐related nonprofit organizations in the United States. Results for organization financial stability are for the most part counterintuitive: financially unstable arts and culture‐related nonprofits receive more donations. The current analysis supports prior research and finds evidence of a “crowding in” effect for fundraising expenses, suggesting that nonprofits that spend more on fundraising and marketing raise more funds than those that spend less. Additional analysis indicates efficiency matters to donors when it comes to fundraising efforts. As the “cost to raise a dollar” increases donations decrease. Nonprofit managers in arts and culture‐related organizations concerned about increasing donations should consider strategies that will increase the efficiency of their fundraising and marketing efforts. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

     

Relationships among open innovation,innovative performance,government support and firm size: Comparing Brazilian firms embracing different levels of radicalism in innovation

This work extends knowledge concerning the relationships among open innovation, innovative performance and government support for innovation within Brazilian firms. Data were obtained from two different firm samples (Sample A, on incremental innovation, and Sample B, on radical innovation). The main research results are as follows. First, in considering government support for innovation, Sample B, based on radical innovation, played a superior and stronger role than Sample A. Secondly, for both samples, the cooperation of external firms has a positive effect on firms’ innovative performance, which was positively controlled by the size of the firms. Thirdly, in general, radical innovation requires synergy and a more intense focus regarding the constructs considered therein. This work also adds value in methodological terms, as this is the first research to have tested different models of samples with different levels of radicalism in innovation.     

The extent of excessive or insufficient fundraising among US arts organizations and the effect of organizational efficiency on donations to US arts organizations

• We estimate, for each nonprofit organization (NPO) in a sample of 606 US arts NPOs, whether the NPO's level of fundraising is ‘excessive,’ ‘insufficient,’ or neither, relative to the level that maximizes net donations. We find that the effect of a 1% increase in fundraising on net donations varies widely across the arts NPOs in our sample—from an increase in net donations of 8.91% of gross donations to a decrease of 3.82% of gross donations. Of the 100 NPOs in our sample with the highest donations, the estimated effect of a 1% increase in fundraising on net donations varies more narrowly—from an increase in net donations of 0.27% of gross donations to a decrease of 0.32% of gross donations. Of these 100 NPOs, we estimate that only 3 engaged in ‘excessive’ fundraising, but 83 engaged in ‘insufficient’ fundraising, and 14 did not engage in ‘excessive’ or ‘insufficient’ fundraising.We also provide evidence that reported organizational efficiency does not affect donations to arts NPOs. This finding may be useful to managers and directors of US arts NPOs who believe that organizational efficiency does impact donations and who, therefore, incorporate the effect on efficiency in their decisions to allocate resources across fundraising, administration, and program objectives.

Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Public support for performing arts. Efficiency and productivity gains in eleven European countries

This paper investigates the importance of public cultural expenditure for the efficiency and productivity of the performing arts (PA) firms. To this aim, we estimate a translog production function using the stochastic frontier approach (SFA), and we obtain the estimates of both technical efficiency and its determinants for the PA firms in EU-11 countries over the period 2009–2017. The large panel data set enables the application of robust true random-effects SFA techniques, which control for noise, unobserved firms' heterogeneity and endogeneity of the inputs. Moreover, by estimating a production function, the characteristics of the production technology in the PA sector is also derived. The empirical results demonstrate that PA firms are technically inefficient, implying that the investigated firms could increase their artistic output between 32 and 42% and that decreasing returns to scale are prevalent, due to the presence of too many micro and large-scale firms in the European PA sector. In contrast to the seminal Baumol and Bowen's [5] paper, we also demonstrate that the total factor productivity (TFP) increased in the EU PA firms over the examined period. Technical efficiency, although relatively low, was the main driver of this productivity growth, as opposed to scale efficiency change or technological change, which display very small or no increases. We also find that, contrary to the common wisdom on its negative effects on firm efficiency, public spending on culture increases the efficiency of PA firms. Within this context some policy implications are discussed.     

Materialism,consumerism, and religion: A Buddhist vision for nonprofit marketing

This study delves into the interaction between materialism and religion and explores how consumers reconcile their religious precepts with materialism in today's consumerist society, with an ethnographic study of one of the world's largest Nichiren Buddhist organizations. The study reveals that instead of ideological ways of thinking that often resorts to rigid categorization, such as spiritualism at conflicts with materialism and liberalism opposing socialism, religion can transcend the spirit of materialism and the duality that characterizes most thinking. It can harmonize even the apparently contradictory entities of consumerism, materialism, and spiritualism and root itself in the reality of life, leading to an individual inner revolution and consequent social transformation.     

Transparency of nonprofit organizations: An integrative framework and research agenda

Over the past 20 years, as the study of transparency has evolved into a burgeoning multidisciplinary field, nonprofit scholars have developed an impressive body of research on the antecedents and outcomes of the transparency of nonprofit organizations (NPOs). From both theoretical and practical purposes, it is necessary to develop an overall picture of such antecedents and outcomes, to allow scholars and NPOs to understand why, when, and how transparency should be implemented. Current studies provide a fragmented view, focused on specific elements of NPO transparency; with a systematic literature review of 76 articles, this article offers both an integrative framework of the antecedents and outcomes of NPO transparency and an agenda for research, based on a critical analysis of the integrative framework. Four relevant research orientations emerge: (1) direction of NPO transparency, (2) distinguishing actual from perceived transparency, (3) the dark side of NPO transparency, and (4) NPO transparency contingency factors. Research along these four orientations could add nuance to existing knowledge of transparency and provide key insights with regard to why, when, and how transparency works.     

A Buddhist perspective on death: An ethnographic study and implications for nonprofit marketing in grief support and terminal illness

The liminal state associated with terminal illness and death of a loved one is characterized by a marginalized experience, often accompanied by immense grief, confusion, isolation, and in cases identity crisis. There exists a range of issues that make marketing to these groups very different from marketing to non‐sensitive segments. This paper adds to the literature on marketing to sensitive groups by exploring the concept of death and implications for nonprofit organizations in grief support and terminal illness, with an ethnographic study of one of the world's largest Nichiren Buddhist organizations. It shows that Buddhist concepts of death can play a compassionate role for nonprofit organizations in countering the delusory fear and hopelessness of death for families and patients coping with bereavement and imminent death.     

Creativity,job performance and their correlates: a comparison between nonprofit and profit-driven organizations

• This study explores a research model concerning creativity, job performance, and their correlates in the nonprofit organization setting. The findings of this study suggest that a set of differences in the areas of creativity, job performance, and their correlates exists between the marketers in nonprofit organizations and the marketers in profit-driven organizations. These findings reveal the need for contingency theories in this area, with emphasis centered on environmental differences. It is hoped that this study will draw the attention of many researchers toward topics concerning organizational creativity in the nonprofit organization setting.

Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Best value,partnerships and relationship marketing in local government

This paper contends that relationship marketing can enhance the nature of partnerships in local government. It considers first the development of best value, with particular emphasis on partnerships and collaborative working. The development of relationship marketing and its definitions are acknowledged along with a selection of related issues. Two taxonomies of relationship marketing are then considered which appear to have particular relevance to local government. The notion of trust is singled out for attention and possible applications of relationship marketing are then offered. The conclusion presents a synthesis of collaborative working and relationship marketing and a nascent model showing the possible facilitating role of relationship marketing. Copyright © 2003 Henry Stewart Publications     

Online privacy and security practices of the 100 largest US nonprofit organizations

• Although online consumer privacy has been an important issue in the commercial realm for more than a decade, nonprofit organizations (NPOs, or nonprofits, for short) have just begun to address the topic recently. No published scholarly research has examined the online information practices of the largest NPOs with regard to privacy and security issues. The absence of data leaves one unable to empirically gauge the extent of NPO compliance with the Federal Trade Commissions (FTCs) suggested information practices. Such an investigation would be useful not only to US nonprofits but also non‐US nonprofits that are reaching US donors via their web sites.
• This study examines the online information practices of The Nonprofit Times 100 web sites and compares their practices to that of their commercial counterparts. The NPO web sites were found to collect just as much, and in some cases even more, personally identifying information as the commercial sites. The NPO web sites were more likely to display a privacy disclosure and privacy seal. Of critical concern, and not assessed in the commercial samples, is that nearly all of the NPO sites post personally identifying information (of individuals who are not employees).
• The current study provides benchmarks useful for assessing security issues pertaining to the collection, use, and even posting of personal information for NPO web sites. It also proposes actions for improving online security and privacy with the hope of encouraging more discussion of these important issues within the NPO community.

Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Retirement,financial incentives and health

This paper aims to assess empirically the relative size of incentive effects and health for the retirement decision. We specify and estimate a dynamic model for retirement behaviour that explicitly takes account of health and eligibility conditions and replacement rates of alternative exit routes from the labour force. A range of health instruments are constructed from estimates of a model for health dynamics and these are used to assess the effect of reporting errors and of endogeneity of health on the estimates of the retirement model. Our results provide evidence that health and retirement are endogenously related. Health matters but the size of the health effect depends crucially on the health measure used. We find that subjective health measures overstate the effect of health on retirement and that endogeneity of health suppresses the health effect. Incentive effects are relatively insensitive to alternative specifications for health. The incentive effects are strong for early retirement (ER) schemes. There is evidence that income streams in alternative exit routes are compared in the retirement decision and that alternative exit routes act as substitutes.     

The emergence of health technology organizations among institutional healthcare and economic actors

International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal - Few studies have considered the creation of health technology organizations where the entrepreneurs seize opportunities, create their...     

农户特征、金融结构与我国农村经济发展的金融支持

我国农村经济发展需要金融的强有力支持。我国农户特征为农村非正规金融提供了存在的客观基础，而商业化改革的深入开展强化了农村商业性正规金融追求利润的经济理性，弱化了其为广大农户提供信贷的激励。根据我国农户特征和农村金融结构现状，农村经济发展的金融支持模式应是：通过对农村非正规金融的正确引导，使其更加有效地满足农户消费性信贷需求和部分生产性信贷需求；农村商业性正规金融应为农业企业提供充分的信贷支持，同时为农户提供部分生产性信贷服务；政策性金融的首要任务是改善农村经济发展环境，支持农业科技进步。     

Evaluation in nonprofit organizations: A defense of perception as a managerial and scientific tool

Nonprofit organizations (NPOs) are subject to multiple pressures from their stakeholders. Stakeholders are at the same time the target of the organization's mission, the evaluators, the providers of resources and the demanders. This article is an essay that defends reciprocal perception as a managerial tool. The proposed intellectual path leads to the revalorization of stakeholder perception as a very useful practical and scientific tool for the management and study of NPOs. However, perception has limitations that the introduction of the concept of reciprocity can address.