How does a board of directors influence within‐ and cross‐sector nonprofit collaboration?

• Author: Jennifer Ihm,Michelle Shumate
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/nml.21343
• Published date: 01 June 2019
• Date: 01 June 2019

RESEARCH ARTICLE

How does a board of directors influence within- and

cross-sector nonprofit collaboration?

Jennifer Ihm

1

| Michelle Shumate

2

1

School of Communications, Kwangwoon

University, Seoul, Republic of Korea

2

Communication Studies, Northwestern

University, Evanston, Illinois

Correspondence

Jennifer Ihm, School of Communications,

Kwangwoon University, Seoul, Nowon-Gu,

Kwangwoon-ro 20, Republic of Korea.

Email: ihmsy17@gmail.com

Board members play a significant, yet largely unexamined,

role in nonprofit collaboration. Processes, such as finding

prospective partners, creating common ground with a part-

ner, and establishing appropriate collaborative governance

implicate nonprofit board members. In contrast to the

scholarship of the role of interlocking directorates as poten-

tial networks for nonprofit collaboration, this paper exam-

ines the role of board members' social and human capital

on nonprofit collaboration with other nonprofits, busi-

nesses, and government agencies. Drawing on online sur-

vey data from 636 nonprofit organizations, this paper finds

that board social capital—but not board human capital—is

positively related to the presence and number of within-

sector and cross-sector nonprofit collaboration. However,

board human capita l enhances nonprof it-government co l-

laboration, when board social capital is also high. The

results provide a novel perspective in nonprofit collabora-

tion and board management research.

KEYWORDS

board human capital, board networks, board social

capital, nonprofit collaboration

1|INTRODUCTION

Collaboration among governmental, private, and nonprofit organizations has become a significant

mechanism to achieve collective goals that cannot be accomplished by a single party (Chen, 2010;

Kenis & Provan, 2006). While solving complex social problems is an important objective of non-

profit collaboration, organizational resources (Grønbjerg, 1993; Pfeffer & Salancik, 1978), institu-

tional forces (DiMaggio & Powell, 1983; Oliver, 1990), and interlocking directorates (Austin, 2000;

Guo & Acar, 2005; Osborne, 2000) may be the actual catalysts of nonprofit collaboration to serve

each partner's needs.

Received: 27 January 2018 Revised: 20 September 2018 Accepted: 21 September 2018

DOI: 10.1002/nml.21343

Nonprofit Management and Leadership. 2019;29:473–490. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/nml © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. 473

However, previous research fails to consider the active roles of individuals in nonprofit collabora-

tion. While organizational resources (Grønbjerg, 1993; Pfeffer & Salancik, 1978) and institutional

forces (DiMaggio & Powell, 1983) may influence collaboration, it is individuals who consider these

factors and make decisions on nonprofit collaboration. Further, board of directors, as individuals,

may bring varied resources and take more active roles in facilitating and determining nonprofit col-

laboration beyond turning their personal affiliations into organizational collaboration. Board mem-

bers may provide information about prospective partners based on their social connections (Austin,

2000; Rondinelli & London, 2003) or make strategic decisions about the collaboration by relying on

their organizational knowledge and skills (Kor & Sundaramurthy, 2009).

The purpose of this study is to examine the role of board members and their resources in three

types of nonprofit collaboration. In contrast to the interlocking directorates perspective (see Austin,

2000; Guo & Acar, 2005; Osborne, 2000), this study emphasizes resources that board members may

bring to nonprofit collaboration (Austin, 2000; Kor & Sundaramurthy, 2009). In the next section, we

describe three types of nonprofit collaboration and the role of board social capital and human capital

in these collaborative partnerships.

This study makes three contributions to nonprofit collaboration and board management studies.

First, this study provides a new angle in interorganizational collaboration research by accounting for

board capital, differentiating itself from previous theory describing how interlocking directorates

facilitate nonprofit collaboration (Austin, 2000; Guo & Acar, 2005). Second, this research reveals dif-

ferences between three types of nonprofit collaboration and answers the call for comparative studies

of within-sector and cross-sector collaboration (Gazley & Guo, 2015; Guo & Acar, 2005). Finally,

this research provides practical implications for practitioners and funders in the nonprofit fields.

Namely, this research suggests nonprofits may fruitfully grow their collaboration network by seeking

board members with diverse organizational affiliations.

2|PREDICTING THREE TYPES OF NONPROFIT COLLABORATION

Nonprofit organizations collaborate with three different types of partners: other nonprofits, corpora-

tions, and governmental organizations (Austin & Seitanidi, 2012; Gazley & Brudney, 2007; Guo &

Acar, 2005; Provan & Lemaire, 2012). Nonprofits collaborate with other nonprofits to collectively

solve communal problems (Milward & Provan, 2006) and improve service delivery to the community

through joint effort, resources, and decision-making (Blau & Rabrenovic, 1991). These partnerships

are described in this paper as within-sector collaboration. Although the intensity of within-sector col-

laboration may vary (Keast, Brown, & Mandell, 2007), this paper regarded within-sector collabora-

tion as relationships among nonprofit organizations in a broad sense including less intense, informal

relationships as well as more integrative collaboration.

Nonprofit-business collaboration is a strategic alliance between two sectors to exchange resources

and achieve social and economic missions (Austin & Seitanidi,2012). It differs from other types of col-

laboration because the businesses and nonprofits have different goals in cross-sector partnerships

(Shumate, Hsieh, & O'Connor, 2018). As such, these partnerships often have different processes, chal-

lenges, and opportunities (Austin & Seitanidi, 2012), in comparison to within-sector collaboration.

Because of an increasing emphasis on effective social change (Fabig & Boele, 1999), innovation

(Sanzo,



Alvarez, Rey, & García, 2015) and the limited nature of philanthropic relationships

(Austin & Seitanidi, 2012), nonprofits have broadened the scope of activities and resources and

extended “philanthropic relationships”to more “transformational”ones (see collaboration continuum

in Austin & Seitanidi, 2012). As such, this paper focuses on nonprofit and business partnerships that

474 IHM AND SHUMATE