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The Exigent Study of Nonprofit Organizational Evolution: Illuminating Methodological Challenges and Pathways Using a Nonprofit Entrepreneurship Lens

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2026

Fredrik O. AnderssonOpen the ORCID record for Fredrik O. Andersson[Opens in a new window]
Fredrik O. Andersson*
Affiliation:
O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs, Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis, 801 W. Michigan Street, Indianapolis, IN 46202, USA
*
fanders@iu.edu
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Abstract

The study of how nonprofits evolve is fundamental to gaining an appreciation of dynamic nonprofit organizational life, and to developing insight into how nonprofits emerge and transform over time. Using a nonprofit entrepreneurship perspective, this article highlights a number of key methodological challenges associated with the study of nonprofit entrepreneurship, including issues of identification and use of single key informants. The article also provides suggestions how to capture the often “messy” nonprofit entrepreneurship process by pointing to the need for longitudinal data, and by discussing the value of qualitative inquiry and methods.

Keywords

Nonprofit organizationsEvolutionEntrepreneurshipProcess

Information

Type
Research Papers
Information
Voluntas: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations , Volume 33 , Issue 6 , December 2022, pp. 1228 - 1234
Copyright
Copyright © International Society for Third-Sector Research 2021

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