TY - JOUR
T1 - Identity Brokerage and Nonprofit Community Building
AU - Gilpin, Dawn
AU - Miller, Nina K.
PY - 2013/10
Y1 - 2013/10
N2 - Scholars have increasingly approached organizations as complex systems with indeterminate, shifting boundaries. Boundaries in many nonprofit organizations may be especially fluid, given the heterogeneity of stakeholders and highly multiplexed relational and value characteristics involved in constructing identity. The present study frames nonprofit organizations as complex organizations seeking to build communities of legitimacy. Within these communities they construct their identity through a combination of boundary setting, or perceptions of the organization and in what ways it is distinct from other organizations and communities, and relationship building, through both interpersonal contacts and socially mediated interaction. These dimensions combine to allow organizations to identify and bridge structural holes in the larger network in which they are embedded, through processes of identity brokerage. These mechanisms have significant implications for driving growth and engagement in nonprofit organizations. In support of this theoretical model, the article describes a mixed-methods research study involving a nascent arts organization in a large U.S. city.
AB - Scholars have increasingly approached organizations as complex systems with indeterminate, shifting boundaries. Boundaries in many nonprofit organizations may be especially fluid, given the heterogeneity of stakeholders and highly multiplexed relational and value characteristics involved in constructing identity. The present study frames nonprofit organizations as complex organizations seeking to build communities of legitimacy. Within these communities they construct their identity through a combination of boundary setting, or perceptions of the organization and in what ways it is distinct from other organizations and communities, and relationship building, through both interpersonal contacts and socially mediated interaction. These dimensions combine to allow organizations to identify and bridge structural holes in the larger network in which they are embedded, through processes of identity brokerage. These mechanisms have significant implications for driving growth and engagement in nonprofit organizations. In support of this theoretical model, the article describes a mixed-methods research study involving a nascent arts organization in a large U.S. city.
KW - arts
KW - community
KW - complexity
KW - identity
KW - social media
KW - social network analysis
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84888051333&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84888051333&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/10495142.2013.830546
DO - 10.1080/10495142.2013.830546
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84888051333
SN - 1049-5142
VL - 25
SP - 354
EP - 373
JO - Journal of Nonprofit and Public Sector Marketing
JF - Journal of Nonprofit and Public Sector Marketing
IS - 4
ER -