Civil society organisations’ management dynamics and social value creation in the post-conflict volatile contexts pre and during COVID-19

Abstract

Purpose The current paper aims to address the management dynamics of civil society organisations (CSOs) in volatile contexts. Along with analysing CSOs’ management dynamics at a general level, it also offers specific insights into their management strategies in response to COVID-19 pandemic. Design/methodology/approach This study uses a qualitative research design, where in-depth case studies are undertaken with four CSOs operating in post-conflict volatile Sub-Saharan African economies of Liberia and Sierra Leone. Findings Findings revealed that multiple stakeholder management plays an important role in social value creation by CSOs. The findings further state that, in volatile contexts, CSOs appear to have more legitimacy than state functionaries due to their capabilities in dealing with political pressures and conflict sensitivities. The findings also revealed that case CSOs operating in Liberia and Sierra Leone were quick to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic by adjusting their working routines accordingly by switching to online working where possible and repurposing their management strategies. This repurposing of management strategies focussed on minimising economic disruptions caused by COVID-19 and continuing to create social value by helping youth and farmers particularly. Originality/value This paper contributes to the extant literature by being one of the first studies, highlighting the specificities of CSO management in volatile (especially Sub-Saharan African post-conflict) contexts and contributes to the literature streams on multiple stakeholder management and social value creation. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, the current paper is also one the first study to address the management strategies of case CSOs in response to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic in Liberia and Sierra Leone.

Covid-19 Pandemisi Sırasında Stratejik Yönetim Literatüründe Neler Söylendi?

“…By relating to the "organized" part of VRIO analysis developed by Barney (1995), it can be said that managerial competencies are critical for success, especially in crises that are highly volatile in their nature. In this sense, topics like stakeholder management including philanthropy, CSR, external communication, variety of stakeholders like migrants governments, civil society organizations (Al-Mansour and Al-Ajmi, 2020; He and Harris, 2020;Arslan, et al, 2021;Boeing and Wang, 2021;Bogomoletc and Lee, 2021;Chen, Liu, et al, 2021;Hammerschmidt, et al, 2021;He, et al, 2021;Kwok, et al, 2021;Lee and Li, 2021;Nayal, et al, 2021;Yen, et al, 2021) knowledge management (Iacuzzi, et al, 2020;Edghiem, et al, 2020;Ammirato, et al, 2020;Yigitcanlar, et al, 2021;Bratianu and Bejinaru, 2021;Saide and Sheng, 2021;Mariano, 2021;Klein and Todesco, 2021;Chen, Tansley and Chou, 2021;Azyabi, 2021), crisis management Hughes, et al, 2020;Kraus, et al, 2020;Moorkamp, et al, 2020;Lai and Wong, 2020;Alves, et al, 2020;Fasth, et al, 2021;Cullen and Murphy, 2021), governance (Kim, 2020;Ansell, et al, 2020;Sharma, Borah, and Moses, 2021;Abbas et al, 2021;Verbeke and Yuan, 2021), digitalization management (Anderson, 2020;Pūraitė, et al, 2020;Li, et al, 2020;…”

Youth Participation for Sustainable Value Creation: The Role and Prioritization of SDGs

“…There exists a restricted body of knowledge that thoroughly examines the strategies for boosting adolescent engagement in the successful execution and attainment of SDGs, specifically within the Southeast European territory. Also, there is a limited body of research on value creation for sustainability, as the existing research mostly focuses on the idea of social value creation, e.g., [27,28], as well as a scarcity of literature related to the participation of youth in this particular domain.…”

Beyond the “NGOization” of Civil Society: A Framework for Sustainable Community Led Development in Conflict Settings

“…Despite the growing importance of studying CSOs in extreme contexts (Arslan et al, 2021;Meyer & Simsa, 2018;Waerder et al, 2022;), such as conflict settings, there remains a significant gap in our understanding of how different CSO dynamics, such as internal and external governance, policy dialogue, social innovation, knowledge management, and service provision, interact with each other in a conflict environment. The authors argue that such a gap hinders the development of effective models and strategies for CSOs to overcome the challenges they face and continue to serve the needs of the community.…”