IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jscscx/v13y2024i9p436-d1462380.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Impact of Managerialism on Nonprofit Organizations Serving People Experiencing Houselessness in the United States

Author

Listed:
  • Lauren Willner

    (School of Social Work, San Diego State University, San Diego, CA 92182-4162, USA)

  • Sara M. Heller

    (School of Social Work, San Diego State University, San Diego, CA 92182-4162, USA)

Abstract

The concept of managerialism as it relates to the field of human services has garnered increased attention from researchers in recent years. Understood as the “dominance of management practices and ideas derived in the for-profit sector”, managerialism is widely embraced within the nonprofit sector in the United States. Despite increased attention to the role and impact of managerialism within human services, theoretical and empirical research examining the operationalization of managerialism within human service organizations remains limited. In the field of homeless services specifically, little is known about how managerialist ideology and practice affect the provision of services within organizations serving unhoused populations. This paper examines the role and impact of managerialism on the organizational functioning of a large homeless services agency located in a major metropolitan area of the United States. The specific ways managerialism is operationalized within this organization are examined. Further, the impact of managerialist ideology and practice on the organization’s ability to work successfully toward its mission of eradicating homelessness is discussed. In doing so, this paper suggests that managerialist approaches to providing homeless services may impede an organization’s ability to meet its goals and mission in ways that align with institutional logics more commonly associated with human service organizations and the nonprofit sector more generally.

Suggested Citation

  • Lauren Willner & Sara M. Heller, 2024. "The Impact of Managerialism on Nonprofit Organizations Serving People Experiencing Houselessness in the United States," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 13(9), pages 1-19, August.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jscscx:v:13:y:2024:i:9:p:436-:d:1462380
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/13/9/436/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/13/9/436/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Christine Doran, 2016. "Managerialism: An Ideology and its Evolution," International Journal of Management, Knowledge and Learning, International School for Social and Business Studies, Celje, Slovenia, vol. 5(1), pages 81-97.
    2. Ziyu Liu & Hung Wong & Jifang Liu, 2022. "Why do Social Workers Leave? A Moderated Mediation of Professionalism, Job Satisfaction, and Managerialism," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(1), pages 1-16, December.
    3. John P. Allegrante & David A. Sleet, 2021. "Investing in Public Health Infrastructure to Address the Complexities of Homelessness," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(16), pages 1-8, August.
    4. Hyde Cheryl, 2024. "Precarious Professionals: The Impact of Neoliberalism on the Workforce of the Nonprofit Human Service Sector," Nonprofit Policy Forum, De Gruyter, vol. 15(2), pages 121-137, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Nayara Gonçalves Barbosa & Hellen Aparecida de Azevedo Pereira & Marcelo Vinicius Domingos Rodrigues dos Santos & Lise Maria Carvalho Mendes & Flávia Azevedo Gomes-Sponholz & Juliana Cristina dos Sant, 2023. "Assisting Homeless Women in a City in Brazil during the COVID-19 Pandemic in the Context of a Street Outreach Office: The Perceptions of Health Professionals," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(2), pages 1-10, January.
    2. Sonika Bhatnagar & John Lovelace & Ray Prushnok & Justin Kanter & Joan Eichner & Dan LaVallee & James Schuster, 2023. "A Novel Framework to Address the Complexities of Housing Insecurity and Its Associated Health Outcomes and Inequities: “Give, Partner, Invest”," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(14), pages 1-11, July.
    3. David A. Sleet & Louis Hugo Francescutti, 2021. "Homelessness and Public Health: A Focus on Strategies and Solutions," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(21), pages 1-6, November.
    4. Abbott, Keith & Mackinnon, Bruce Hearn, 2019. "A Žižekian ideological critique of managerialism," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 37(2), pages 133-138.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jscscx:v:13:y:2024:i:9:p:436-:d:1462380. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.