Addressing a key social policy problem, this book analyses modern voluntary organisations through the lens of a new theory of hybrid organisations, which is tested and developed in the context of a range of case studies. Essential reading for all interested in the future of the third sector.

This book seeks to answer the unsolved questions related to hybrid organisations, adopting a multifaceted approach focussing on different national contexts, including the UK, Italy, Australia, and Sweden, as well as global organisations. Authors consider policy sectors including humanitarian aid, local transport, healthcare, and welfare services.

Volunteering and voluntary organizations have become increasingly important in British social and political life but at a cost. Greater prominence has led to a narrow and distorted view of what voluntary action involves and how it is undertaken. This book reasserts the case for a broader view of voluntarism as a unique set of autonomous activities.

This volume explores an expansive array of organizational imaginaries, or conceptions of organizational possibilities, with a focus on collectivist-democratic organizations, to showcase how organizations can ultimately support and serve broader communities.

Social housing has long been delivered through mixed economy mechanisms, but there has been little focus in housing studies on what this means for housing organisations themselves. This book presents recent international research applying concepts of social enterprise and hybridity to illuminate organisational behaviour in the housing sector. It addresses critiques of the explanatory value of these concepts by exploring their underlying meanings and their application to diverse case studies worldwide. The concepts are found to be most useful where they inform dynamic analysis of hybridisation and identify underlying change mechanisms, rather than simply providing static descriptions of hybridity. Various chapters in the book show how analysis can be enriched by drawing on institutional theory to develop concepts such as competing organisational logics, trade-offs between social and commercial goals and resource transfers. The Book also looks at policy as a driver for hybridisation and to the regulatory challenges for policy systems that have come to rely on hybrid forms of delivery. A research agenda is proposed building on these conceptual frameworks to develop systematic approaches to data collection and analysis to enable clearer and more consistent meanings to emerge. This book was published as a special issue of Housing Studies.

The role of the Third Sector within European society is an extremely topical subject, as both governments and the EU continue to consider the role these organizations can play in providing essential public services. This book presents contemporary research into this emerging area, exploring the contribution of this important sector to European soci

Hybrid Organisations – that integrate competing organisational principles – have become a preferred means of tackling the complexity of today's societal problems. One familiar set of examples are organisations that combine significant features from market, public and third sector organisations. Many different groundbreaking approaches to hybridity are contained in this Handbook, which brings together a collection of empirical studies from an international body of scholars. The chapters analyse and theorise the position of hybrid organisations and have important implications for theory, practice and policy in a context of proliferating hybrid forms of organisation.

Global societal challenges like food insecurity or the replacement of fossil fuels with renewable energy have no easy and straight-forward solutions. Ultimately, a democratic process and social acceptance of new approaches are just as important as economic efficiency and cost reduction. Besides engagement from the public sector, there are private initiatives that aim to strike this balance. These newer hybrid organizations aim to internalize both social and economic identities and goals. However, this causes challenges that have to be overcome in order to successfully disseminate social innovations. This thesis, composed of three individual essays, investigates this context with a particular focus on social impact incubators and accelerators. These types of private support organizations act as intermediaries in social innovation ecosystems and support social enterprises through bundled services offered in innovation programs that span several months. The first essay is a literature review that takes a closer look at management in social enterprises, because they are the main participants in social impact incubator and accelerator programs. By investigating strategies to manage hybridity, this study contributes to the literature on organizational hybridity. The holistic management framework that was developed extends our knowledge of how social enterprises can concurrently improve in the social and economic goal dimensions. The second essay then investigates interactions between social incubator participants and the program environment. Program participants profit from personal mentoring, as well as access to a network and funding opportunities. However, little was known about how program participants interact and learn in these environments. This thesis contributes to knowledge by providing insights through a longitudinal single case study. In addition, it illuminates how these programs are funded in the third essay. An empirical model was built and tested using data collected from an original global survey of social impact incubators and accelerators. The results indicate that tensions between social and economic aspects are common in this context, and that governments tend to fund more economically oriented incubators and accelerators.

The current fashion for rolling back the state has seen the nonprofit or third sector playing an increasing role in what were previously the heartlands of the public sphere. The growing significance of the sector and its increasing reliance on public funds mean it has also attracted increased scrutiny. From outside the sector concerns have been raised about the accountability and performance of nonprofit organizations. From within the sector there has been considerable debate about whether the increased reliance on government contracts is in danger of undermining the sector’s independence. As a result the spotlight has fallen on governance arrangements and whether they are adequate to ensure that nonprofit organizations are effective and accountable for their actions, and able to retain their independence. This collection offers a comprehensive assessment of research on the governance of nonprofit organizations. Nonprofit governance research has been dominated by the study of boards of unitary organizations and has paid insufficient attention to the multi-level nature of governance, governance relationships and dynamics, and the contribution of actors other than board members, to governance processes. Drawing on the research of leading scholars in the US, UK, Canada and Australia, this book presents new perspectives on non-profit governance, which help to overcome these weaknesses. Written in an accessible manner the book will be of value to scholars, researchers, students, reflective practitioners and governance consultants and advisers.

This volume compiles a dozen essays, by one of the most prolific proponents of co-production as a solution for many of the challenges facing public services and democratic governance at the outset of the 21st Century. Co-production is considered a partnership between citizens and public service providers that is essential for meeting a growing number of social challenges, since neither the government nor citizens can solve them on their own. These challenges include, among other things, improving the efficiency and effectiveness of public services in times of financial strain; increasing the legitimacy of the public sector after decades of questioning its ability with the spread of New Public Management; promoting social integration and cultural pluralism in increasingly diverse societies when millions of refugees and immigrants are on the move; tackling the threat of burgeoning populism following the rise of anti-immigrant and anti-global parties in many countries in recent years; and finally, finding viable solutions for meeting the growing needs of aging populations in many parts of the world. This volume addresses issues related to the successful development and implementation of a policy shift toward greater citizen participation in the design and delivery of the services they depend on in their daily lives and greater citizen involvement in resolving these tenacious problems, facilitated by the active support of governments across the globe. Moreover, it explores participatory public service management that empowers the front-line staff providing public services. Together with users/citizens they can insure the democratic governance of public service provision.