Loss or Gain? Unpacking Nonprofit Autonomy-Interdependence Paradox in Collaborations

• Published date: 01 May 2021
• Author: Mirae Kim,Chengxin Xu
• DOI: 10.1177/0275074020983802
• Date: 01 May 2021
• Subject Matter: Articles

https://doi.org/10.1177/0275074020983802

American Review of Public Administration

2021, Vol. 51(4) 308 –324

© The Author(s) 2021

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DOI: 10.1177/0275074020983802

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Article

Introduction

A large volume of public and nonprofit literature has cele-

brated the benefits of interorganizational collaborations.

Namely, collaborations benefit organizations by expanding

access to more resources, building reliable networks for

long-term endeavors, and reducing competition over limited

resources (AbouAssi & Jo, 2017; O’Leary & Vij, 2012;

Suárez & Esparza, 2017). However, there could be unin-

tended negative consequences from collaborations depend-

ing on how the relationships evolve, especially when

participating nonprofits have to compromise their autonomy

while collaborating with other institutions (Gazley, 2010).

Conflicts between a participating organizations’ own interest

and the collective interest that collaborating organizations

share as well as different levels of power among participat-

ing organizations can infringe upon an individual nonprofit’s

autonomy. Organizational autonomy is critical for nonprofits

in terms of an organization’s ability to achieve its mission.

Although yielding to external control may bring in more

resources that enhance organizational capacity and effi-

ciency, losing autonomy will restrict nonprofits’ capacity to

survive in the environment with uncertainties. In particular, a

nonprofit keeping its autonomy also creates important nor-

mative value for the civil society. As such, prior studies dis-

cussed the risk of infringement on organizational autonomy

when nonprofits collaborate with other organizations (Gazley

& Brudney, 2007; Guo & Acar, 2005). Still, there is little

understanding of why and how nonprofits simultaneously

experience the benefits and risks of collaboration.

Nonprofit literature based on the resource dependency

theory suggests that one possible solution for nonprofits to

sustain organizational autonomy is to diversify resource

channels by establishing multiple interorganizational con-

nections (Khieng & Dahles, 2015; Mitchell, 2014a). Drees

and Heugens’ (2013) meta-analysis shows that forming

interorganizational relations, such as alliances or joint ven-

tures, helps organizations sustain stronger organizational

autonomy. Even though collaborating with other institutions

can benefit nonprofits by expanding their service capacity

and reducing their dependency on single or few

resource providers, doing so means being part of multiple

relationships that could compromise an organization’s auton-

omy. In other words, nonprofits could face a dilemma in

983802ARPXXX10.1177/0275074020983802The American Review of Public AdministrationXu and Kim

research-article2021

1Seattle University, WA, USA

2George Mason University, Arlington, VA, USA

Corresponding Author:

Chengxin Xu, Institute of Public Service, Seattle University, 901 12th

Avenue, Seattle, WA 98122, USA.

Email: cxu1@seattleu.edu

Loss or Gain? Unpacking Nonprofit

Autonomy-Interdependence Paradox in

Collaborations

Chengxin Xu1 and Mirae Kim2

Abstract

Nonprofit organizations interested in collaborating with other entities find it difficult to strike a balance between keeping their

autonomy and reaping the benefits from collaborating with other organizations. Although interorganizational collaborations

come with various benefits, such as reducing competition over limited resources, participating in collaborative relationships

can also damage the autonomy of individual nonprofits. Using an original survey of 275 nonprofits, we examine how various

dimensions of collaborative relationships affect an individual nonprofit’s autonomy. Our findings suggest that having highly

specified administrative arrangements and stronger trust as well as reciprocity among partner organizations serve as critical

factors to secure the autonomy of individual organizations. We also find that nonprofit organizations engaged in mostly

informal relationships and in partnerships across sectors feel less threatened about maintaining their autonomy. Our post

hoc analysis further suggests that organizational autonomy is a significant antecedent for seeking more collaborations. To this

end, we discuss how nonprofits can keep their organizational autonomy without giving up collaborating with other entities

by strategically managing several aspects of the collaborative relationships.

Keywords

cross-sector collaboration, organizational autonomy, trust, reciprocity

Xu and Kim 309

which they initiate collaborations with other entities to

reduce the influence of external resource providers and end

up compromising their overall autonomy because one or

more of the collaborative relationships limit their individual

decision-making power. As such, the potential benefits of

keeping one’s autonomy and the threats of autonomy

infringement can make it challenging for nonprofits to decide

whether to be a part of collaborations and navigate through

dynamic relationships. Public management studies have

reported that one of the fundamental challenges for public

managers engaged in collaborations is how to balance orga-

nizational autonomy (O’Leary & Vij, 2012). Yet, this

dilemma has not been fully explored in the nonprofit context.

As such, we explore how interorganizational collaborations

influence organizational autonomy by dissecting the multidi-

mensional aspects of the collaborative process as well as the

characteristics of collaboration.

In this study, we define nonprofit organizational auton-

omy as follows: how nonprofit leaders perceive the extent to

which their organizations can make decisions and act based

on organizations’ own interest. Given the theoretical expec-

tation that the level of a nonprofit’s autonomy may both

improve and decline while engaged in collaborations, we

argue that the net outcome of organizational autonomy com-

prises of autonomy enhancement due to the diversification of

resource dependence minus infringement due to the conflict-

ing managerial practice during the collaborative process. To

be more specific, we examine a theoretical framework for

collaborations in which the enhancement and infringement

of autonomy are a function of (a) dimensions of collabora-

tive processes, including governance, administration, mutu-

ality, and norm, through which partner organizations work

toward a shared interest through negotiation, joint decision-

making, and collective implementation (Thomson et al.,

2007; Thomson & Perry, 2006); and (b) the characteristics of

collaborative relationships an organization has in general

such as the number and type of collaborations. Including

both sets of variables allows us to capture the dynamic influ-

ence that collaborating with other entities brings to a non-

profit’s autonomy. We focus on both the collaborative

process and characteristics of collaborative relationship

because the former allows us to understand the effect of col-

laboration from a managerial perspective while the latter

helps us understand its effect from an institutional perspec-

tive. Our study draws data from the results of an original

survey of U.S. nonprofits combined with the corresponding

organizations’ Form 990 tax returns.

In the next section, we discuss previous studies on inter-

organizational collaboration and organizational autonomy

in the nonprofit context. Then, building on the previous lit-

erature about collaborations and resource dependence the-

ory, we develop a theoretical framework that help explain

how a nonprofit’s autonomy creates different relationships

with each dimension of the collaborative processes. The

empirical methods and findings are presented next. We

conclude by discussing the implications for nonprofit

scholars and practitioners.

Theoretical Framework

Benefits of Interorganizational Collaboration

A large volume of public and nonprofit management litera-

ture has celebrated the benefits of interorganizational col-

laborations, such as sharing organizational resources,

knowledge, and expertise as well as building reliable net-

works for long-term endeavors (Jang et al., 2016).

Organizations that participate in collaborations can expand

resources in addition to improving service quality, organiza-

tional legitimacy, and professionalism (AbouAssi & Jo,

2017; Kim & Peng, 2018; Sowa, 2009). Collaborations also

benefit the entire sector since they attenuate the competition

over limited resources, reduce transaction costs among orga-

nizations, and create synergies to achieve common goals

(Williamson, 2002). However, interorganizational collabora-

tions also create tension between the self-interests of indi-

vidual organizations and the collective interest of participating

organizations (Huxham, 1993; Malatesta & Smith, 2014;

Thomson & Perry, 2006; Wood & Gray, 1991). For nonprof-

its, such tension could be exacerbated due to their need to

rely on external resource providers and their limited self-

sustainable capacity (Froelich, 1999).

Organizational Autonomy

There have been multiple ways to define or operationalize

organizational autonomy with no consensus on such a defi-

nition thus far. Oliver (1991) defined organizational auton-

omy as “[the] freedom to make its own decisions about the

use and allocation of its internal resources without refer-

ence or regard to the demands or expectations of potential

linkage partners” (p. 944–945). Verhoest et al. (2004), on

the contrary, emphasized the multiple dimensions of orga-

nizational autonomy and defined it as “the level of deci-

sion-making competencies of the agency” and “the

exemption of constraints on the actual use of decision-mak-

ing competencies of the agency” (p. 104). Toepler (2010)

defined the organizational autonomy of nonprofits as a

mixture of financial autonomy, mission autonomy, and pro-

gram autonomy. Taken all together, the current literature

suggests that the level of organizational autonomy influ-

ences organizational leaders’ decision-making process

which determines how the organization behaves. Therefore,

in this study, we focus on nonprofit leaders’ perceived orga-

nization autonomy.

Despite the differences in definition, previous studies

generally agree on the value of organizational autonomy for

public and nonprofit organizations. First, for nonprofit orga-

nizations, organizational autonomy has not only practical

value but also normative value. For the nonprofit sector,