Affiliated Nonprofit Organizations: Strategic Action and Research Universities

This paper examines the growing number of affiliations between research universities and the “affiliated nonprofit organizations” (ANPOs) that exist to support them. We posit that universities’ increasing ties to ANPOs represent strategic responses to unfavorable environmental conditions. In other words, it is likely that the practice of affiliating with many ANPOs reflects an institution’s position within the field of research universities. Panel regression results indicate that the practice of affiliating with large numbers of ANPOs is associated with particular indicators of field position (e.g., tuition revenues for public universities and research spending for private universities). These results indicate that universities that were relative incumbents were more likely to affiliate with ANPOs than were either low-status or the highest-status institutions. The paper concludes with implications for research on institutional stratification, university management, and the nature and role of ANPOs in US universities.