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The Pyramid of Nonprofit Responsibility: The Institutionalization of Organizational Responsibility Across Sectors

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2026

Shawn Pope Open the ORCID record for Shawn Pope [Opens in a new window] ,
Patricia Bromley ,
Alwyn Lim  and
John W. Meyer
Shawn Pope*
Affiliation:
School of Business and Economics, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Christian Magnus Falsens vei 18, 1432, Ås, Norway
Patricia Bromley
Affiliation:
Graduate School of Education, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
Alwyn Lim
Affiliation:
Department of Sociology, Singapore Management University, Singapore, Singapore
John W. Meyer
Affiliation:
Department of Sociology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
*
shawnp@nmbu.no
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Abstract

Observers have noted that organizations in all sectors, whether business, nonprofit, or government, have been moving toward rationalized structures that presuppose and express empowered organizational actorhood. We draw upon neo-institutional theory in this paper to extend the argument: The arrival of organizational actorhood has precipitated a concomitant, cross-sectoral movement toward organizational social responsibility. Whereas existing research has tended to theorize the social responsibilities of businesses, we develop a pyramid conceptual schema to array the social responsibilities of nonprofits. We then document the coevolution of organizational actorhood and responsibility across both sectors with a metastudy of nearly 200 extant surveys. We chart the institutionalization of a slate of formal structures that express organizational actorhood (i.e., mission statements, vision statements, and strategic plans) and that profess and define organizational social responsibilities (i.e., core values, ethics codes, and responsibility communications). We close with implications and future directions for organizational studies and research on corporate social responsibility.

Keywords

Nonprofit accountabilityNonprofit social responsibilityCorporate social responsibilityOrganizational actorhoodNonprofit ethicsMission statements

Information

Type
Original Paper
Information
Voluntas: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations , Volume 29 , Issue 6 , December 2018 , pp. 1300 - 1314
Copyright
Copyright © International Society for Third-Sector Research and The Johns Hopkins University 2018

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