IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/oup/oxecpp/v76y2024i2p561-584..html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Non-governmental organizations’ motivation to diversify: self-interest or operation-related? Evidence from Uganda

Author

Listed:
  • Canh Thien Dang
  • Trudy Owens

Abstract

Understanding the mechanisms that guide non-governmental organizations’ (NGOs) managerial decisions is a key to effective development policies. One fundamentally strategic decision is the number of activities an NGO offers. We provide a conceptual framework based on the agency theory to study the motivations underlying strategic decisions of development NGOs in Uganda. We test whether diversifying into many activities is driven by operational reasons or by personal gains of NGO managers. Following a historic flood in 2007, NGOs that rely more on contractual income offer fewer activities than their counterparts in less affected areas. The results support theoretical explanations that operational motives such as risk-reduction or cost complementarity dominate personal and for-profit-like motives. Our article contributes to the debates around the ethical and governmental foundation of the non-profit sector, highlighting the different roles of personal and operational aspects in the decision-making process.

Suggested Citation

  • Canh Thien Dang & Trudy Owens, 2024. "Non-governmental organizations’ motivation to diversify: self-interest or operation-related? Evidence from Uganda," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 76(2), pages 561-584.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:oxecpp:v:76:y:2024:i:2:p:561-584.
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/oep/gpad005
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jean Tirole & Roland Bénabou, 2006. "Incentives and Prosocial Behavior," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 96(5), pages 1652-1678, December.
    2. Gani ALDASHEV & Cecilia NAVARRA, 2018. "Development Ngos: Basic Facts," Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 89(1), pages 125-155, March.
    3. Patrick HERBST & Jens PRUFER, 2016. "Firms, Nonprofits, And Cooperatives: A Theory Of Organizational Choice," Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 87(3), pages 315-343, December.
    4. Aldashev, Gani & Verdier, Thierry, 2010. "Goodwill bazaar: NGO competition and giving to development," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 91(1), pages 48-63, January.
    5. Gregory D. Saxton & Daniel G. Neely, 2019. "The Relationship Between Sarbanes–Oxley Policies and Donor Advisories in Nonprofit Organizations," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 158(2), pages 333-351, August.
    6. Ronelle Burger & Trudy Owens, 2013. "Receive Grants or Perish? The Survival Prospects of Ugandan Non-Governmental Organisations," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 49(9), pages 1284-1298, September.
    7. Kevin M. Murphy & Andrei Shleifer & Robert W. Vishny, 1991. "The Allocation of Talent: Implications for Growth," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 106(2), pages 503-530.
    8. repec:bla:annpce:v:89:y:2018:i:1:p:125-155 is not listed on IDEAS
    9. Timothy Besley & Maitreesh Ghatak, 2005. "Competition and Incentives with Motivated Agents," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 95(3), pages 616-636, June.
    10. Gibbons, Robert & Murphy, Kevin J, 1992. "Optimal Incentive Contracts in the Presence of Career Concerns: Theory and Evidence," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 100(3), pages 468-505, June.
    11. Anna Fruttero & Varun Gauri, 2005. "The Strategic Choices of NGOs: Location Decisions in Rural Bangladesh," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 41(5), pages 759-787.
    12. Stefano DellaVigna & Devin Pope, 2018. "What Motivates Effort? Evidence and Expert Forecasts," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 85(2), pages 1029-1069.
    13. Abigail Barr & Marcel Fafchamps, 2006. "A client-community assessment of the NGO sector in Uganda," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 42(4), pages 611-639.
    14. Dang, Canh Thien & Owens, Trudy, 2020. "Does transparency come at the cost of charitable services? Evidence from investigating British charities," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 172(C), pages 314-343.
    15. Edlira Shehu & Jan U. Becker & Ann-Christin Langmaack & Michel Clement, 2016. "The Brand Personality of Nonprofit Organizations and the Influence of Monetary Incentives," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 138(3), pages 589-600, October.
    16. Richard Steinberg, 1986. "The Revealed Objective Functions of Nonprofit Firms," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 17(4), pages 508-526, Winter.
    17. Richard G. Frank & David S. Salkever, 1991. "The Supply of Charity Services by Nonprofit Hospitals: Motives and Market Structure," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 22(3), pages 430-445, Autumn.
    18. Jeffrey Carpenter & Erick Gong, 2016. "Motivating Agents: How Much Does the Mission Matter?," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 34(1), pages 211-236.
    19. Rajesh K. Aggarwal & Andrew A. Samwick, 2003. "Why Do Managers Diversify Their Firms? Agency Reconsidered," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 58(1), pages 71-118, February.
    20. Cynthia A. Montgomery, 1994. "Corporate Diversificaton," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 8(3), pages 163-178, Summer.
    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. Dang, Canh Thien & Owens, Trudy, 2024. "Non-governmental organizations’ motivation to diversify:: self-interest or operation-related? Evidence from Uganda," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 120200, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    2. Canh Thien Dang & Trudy Owens, 2017. "What motivates Ugandan NGOs to diversify: Risk reduction or private gain?," Discussion Papers 2017-11, University of Nottingham, CREDIT.
    3. Gani ALDASHEV & Cecilia NAVARRA, 2018. "Development Ngos: Basic Facts," Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 89(1), pages 125-155, March.
    4. repec:bla:annpce:v:89:y:2018:i:1:p:125-155 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. Nadia Burani, 2021. "No mission? No motivation. On hospitals' organizational form and charity care provision," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(12), pages 3203-3219, December.
    6. Gani Aldashev & Marco Marini & Thierry Verdier, 2017. "Samaritan Bundles: Inefficient Clustering in NGO Projects," Working Papers 6/17, Sapienza University of Rome, DISS.
    7. Gani Aldashev & Esteban Jaimovich & Thierry Verdier, 2018. "Small is Beautiful: Motivational Allocation in the Nonprofit Sector," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 16(3), pages 730-780.
    8. Morales, Joaquin & Serfilippi, Elena, 2017. "When NGOs fail: A model of advocacy and services provision in weak democracies," MPRA Paper 91506, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. Lea Cassar, 2014. "Optimal contracting with endogenous project mission," ECON - Working Papers 150, Department of Economics - University of Zurich, revised Oct 2014.
    10. Ronelle Burger & Canh Thien Dang & Trudy Owens, 2017. "Better performing NGOs do report more accurately: Evidence from investigating Ugandan NGO financial accounts," Discussion Papers 2017-10, University of Nottingham, CREDIT.
    11. Ina Ganguli & Marieke Huysentruyt & Chloé Le Coq, 2021. "How Do Nascent Social Entrepreneurs Respond to Rewards? A Field Experiment on Motivations in a Grant Competition," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 67(10), pages 6294-6316, October.
    12. Sun-Moon Jung & Jae Yong Shin, 2022. "Social Performance Incentives in Mission-Driven Firms," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 68(10), pages 7631-7657, October.
    13. Jeon, Doh-Shin & Menicucci, Domenico, 2008. "Money, fame and the allocation of talent: Brain drain and the institution of science," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 66(3-4), pages 558-581, June.
    14. Gani Aldashev & Esteban Jaimovich & Thierry Verdier, 2023. "The Dark Side of Transparency: Mission Variety and Industry Equilibrium in Decentralised Public Good Provision," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 133(654), pages 2085-2109.
    15. Butschek, Sebastian & González Amor, Roberto & Kampkötter, Patrick & Sliwka, Dirk, 2022. "Motivating gig workers – evidence from a field experiment," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    16. Gani Aldashev & Marco Marini & Thierry Verdier, 2020. "Samaritan Bundles: Fundraising Competition and Inefficient Clustering in NGO Projects," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 130(630), pages 1541-1582.
    17. Fracchia, Mattia & Molina-Millán, Teresa & Vicente, Pedro C., 2023. "Motivating volunteer health workers in an African capital city," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 163(C).
    18. Verdier, Thierry & Aldashev, Gani & Jaimovich, Esteban, 2014. "When warm glow burns: Motivational (mis)allocation in the non-profit sector," CEPR Discussion Papers 9963, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    19. Gerhards, Leonie, 2015. "The incentive effects of missions—Evidence from experiments with NGO employees and students," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 252-262.
    20. Sheheryar Banuri & Philip Keefer & Damien de Walque, 2017. "Love the job... or the patient? Task vs. mission-based motiviations in healthcare," Working Paper series, University of East Anglia, Centre for Behavioural and Experimental Social Science (CBESS) 17-09, School of Economics, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK..
    21. Eduard Marinov, 2016. "The 2016 Nobel Prize in Economics," Economic Thought journal, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences - Economic Research Institute, issue 6, pages 97-149.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:oup:oxecpp:v:76:y:2024:i:2:p:561-584.. 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: Oxford University Press (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://academic.oup.com/oep .

    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.