Perspectives on social impact measurement and non-profit organisations

Purpose– Acknowledgement of the social impact created by organisations has become an increasingly frequent discussion among practitioners. The importance of such value creation cannot be understated, yet in an increasingly competitive funding environment, the need to articulate “true” value is paramount. The purpose of this paper is to examine how Australian and US managers of non-profit organisations (NPOs) and foundations view the measurement of the social impact of NPOs.Design/methodology/approach– The paper includes 19 in-depth interviews of non-profit professionals in the USA and Australia. Respondents included non-profit managers, foundation managers and consultants in both countries.Findings– The in-depth interviews found that in both countries respondents generally agreed that objective measures of impact are desirable, but recognised the difficulties in developing objective assessment frameworks enabling comparisons across the non-profit sector. These difficulties, as well as the implications for developing assessments of social value for NPOs, are discussed. This paper demonstrates that there is an opportunity to reposition reporting expectations. The NPO sector can pool together and build on each other’s strengths and market their outcomes as a collective entity. A sector-wide approach provides potential for much needed within-sector mentoring and will showcase the rich and varied outcomes generated by NPOs.Originality/value– This research compares viewpoints in two Western countries, thus offering at least an exploratory examination of social impact assessment from an international perspective. Additionally, this research shows commonalities in terms of what is valued and what is most difficult for non-profits when determining social impact.

Managing strategic versus tactical green collaborations : a nonprofit perspective

This exploratory study examines how non-profit organisations view collaborations with other organisations, based on the objective of the collaboration. This perspective has not been previously considered within the literature. Our findings suggest that non-profits believe there are differences in the management of collaborations depending on whether they are designed
to achieve strategic or tactical goals. The variables of power and managerial imbalance were found to impact on the perceived effectiveness of strategic collaborations while organisational compatibility was found to impact on the perceived effectiveness of tactical collaborations.

New activism and communication in Australian risk society : a case study of the Otway Ranges Environment Network

This paper overviews a case study of environmental grassroots activism in Victoria, Australia, between 1995 and 2003. The Otway Ranges Environment Network (OREN) is significant for its successful communication campaign to change forest practices and policy decision-making in the Otway Ranges, and for its intervention in a long-standing and exclusive relationship between government and the timber industry. This paper describes and analyses pivotal parts of the OREN campaign: firstly, the group's strategy to boycott paper and pulp manufacture Kimberly-Clark Australia; and secondly, its decision to participate in the West Victoria Regional Forest Agreement (RFA) process to negotiate the future of Otway forest. Informed by the empirical research and the works of social theorists Ulrich Beck and Jurgen Habermas, this paper outlines a strategic approach to communication that is effective, fair and sustainable, and that can be applied by other non-profits - especially those that operate in politically volatile environments with a grassroots agenda.

A model for improving board performance : the case of a national sport organisation

The transition of many sport organisations from being predominantly volunteer-administered and anchored in an amateur ethos to professionally managed entities has created unique challenges for the governance of sport. This paper provides a contribution to the governance literature through the presentation of a situational case where a four-stage model, drawn from an action research approach, has been used for developing a board’s strategic capability and subsequent improvement in organisational performance.

Action research is founded on the premise that change and research are not mutually exclusive and that dual foci on improving practice and developing theory are possible (Coghlan & Brannick, 2001). Utilising a national sport organisation (NSO) in New Zealand the study developed and tested a structured model for improving board functioning and, specifically, strategic contribution.

While the case to which the model has been applied is an NSO, the model and the subsequent reflections have value for non-profit as well as commercial entities particularly with regard to a greater understanding of the mechanisms associated with balancing the performance and conformance roles of the board.

Unions and profits : a meta-regression analysis

The effect of unions on profits continues to be an unresolved theoretical and empirical issue. In this paper, clustered data analysis and hierarchical linear meta-regression models are applied to the population of forty-five econometric studies that report 532 estimates of the direct effect of unions on profits. Unions have a significant negative effect on profits in the United States, and this effect is larger when market-based measures of profits are used. Separate meta-regression analyses are used to identify the effects of market power and long-lived assets on profits, as well as the sources of union-profit effects. The accumulated evidence rejects market power as a source of union-profit effects. While the case is not yet proven, there is some evidence in support of the appropriation of quasi-rent hypothesis. There is a clear need for further American and non-American primary research in this area.

Pathology, power and profits...in paperback

Joel Bakan’s The Corporation is an accessible and engaging critique of the corporation written for a non-specialist, mass audience. It has been published in the UK to coincide with the release of the multi-award-winning documentary of the same name in UK cinemas.

Does financial news predict stock returns? New evidence from Islamic and Non-Islamic stocks

The paper extends the time-series financial news data set constructed by Garcia (2013) and uses it to examine whether financial news predicts returns of Islamic stocks differently compared to non-Islamic (conventional) stocks. We find that they do. First, while both positive and negative worded news predict most Islamic and conventional stock returns, positive words have a larger impact on both types of stock returns. Second, shock to returns from financial news reverses only in part for some stocks. Third, for a mean-variance investor, investing in Islamic stocks is relatively more profitable than investing in the corresponding conventional stocks. Fourth, we show that profits are robust to a range of time-series risk factors, namely, market risk, size-based risk, and momentum-induced risk.

Credit quality implied momentum profits for Islamic stocks

Using a sample of Asia-Pacific Islamic stocks we show that momentum profits exist regardless of the credit quality of stocks. A portfolio of low credit quality stocks earns 4.68% per annum more than a portfolio of high credit quality stocks. Market risk factors explain all momentum profits, suggesting that profits are compensation for risks. Post-holding period analysis suggests strong evidence of return reversal, consistent with the behavioral hypothesis. Our main results are also robust to sub-samples of data characterized by the recent global financial crisis and to Islamic and non-Islamic based market risk factors.