Drivers of non-profit activity: a cross-country analysis

Abstract

This paper contributes to the existing debate on the determinants of non-profit activity. The main theories have been centered in (1) the study of the individual behavior of people (donors, non-profit entrepreneurs), (2) one single factor or (3) one single country. To quantify this approach, data for 38 countries have been used, extracted from World Values Survey, United Nations Development Program and Global Entrepreneurship Monitor. A structural modeling approach based in partial least squares (PLS) has been applied. The results provide evidence of the strength of environmental factors such as trust, economic development and social care public expenditures in non-profit activity. The model doesn't confirm the existence of a positive relationship between entrepreneurship and non-profit activity. Nevertheless, the authors consider that the supply side theories and the idea of spatial production of entrepreneurship are quite consistent and find some signs evidencing a positive relationship between these variables.

Local social entrepreneurship and social capital

“…Although qualitative studies have thus far demonstrated the relevance of 'institutional voids' for entrepreneurial responses (Mair and Marti 2009;Khanna and Palepu 2000), in more recent cross-national empirical work, the relevance of the 'institutional support' mechanism seems to dominate (Nissan et al 2012;Estrin et al 2013;Stephan et al 2014). In this chapter, we focus on the neighbourhood context rather than the (national/regional) context where all formal rules and regulations are enforced.…”

The Prevalence and Determinants of Social Entrepreneurship at the Macro Level

“…The Failure Thesis and Institutional Void . One of the dominant theoretical perspectives that seeks to explain the size of the nonprofit sector is the government failure thesis (Matsunaga, Yamauchi, and Okuyama ; Nissan, Castaño, and Carrasco ; Salamon, Sokolowski, and Anheier ; Salamon, Sokolowski, and List ; Weisbrod ) . Government failure exists when the government fails to meet public and quasi‐public goods provision and when market imperfections become socially undesirable.…”

“…In other words, unattended social needs serve as an opportunity or driver for entrepreneurs to create social value. Although empirical evidence for the failure thesis is weak with respect to the size of the nonprofit sector (Matsunaga, Yamauchi, and Okuyama ; Nissan, Castaño, and Carrasco ; Salamon, Sokolowski, and Anheier ), there is some evidence related to social entrepreneurship. For example, Kerlin () finds that the absence of state social programs relates to the emergence of social enterprise in each of the seven countries that she studies.…”

“…Interdependence Theory and Institutional Support. An alternative view of the failure thesis assumes a relationship of potential interdependence or partnership between governments and nonprofit organizations (Matsunaga, Yamauchi, and Okuyama 2010;Nissan, Castaño, and Carrasco 2012;Salamon and Da Costa Nunez 1995;Young 2000). Whereas the failure thesis assumes that nonprofit activity is a residual effect of unsatisfied demand for social services that has been left unanswered by the government and the market, the interdependence theory suggests that nonprofit organizations collectively deliver financed social services on behalf of the government (Young 2000(Young , 2008.…”

The determinants of non-profit growth: do social enterprise initiatives matter?

“…They find that the political engagement and the diversity of social networks available in a community have a significant impact on the number of non-profit foundings. Internationally, several studies such as Matsunaga et al (2010), Nissan et al (2010) and Salamon and Anheier (1994) have explained how the size and determinants of the non-profit sectors varies widely by country. These studies however concentrate at the sector level and do not explain what makes an individual non-profit grow.…”