IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/annpce/v93y2022i2p357-380.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Evaluating social impact in practice: Constructing a response to institutional demand in a French nonprofit organization

Author

Listed:
  • Julien Kleszczowski
  • Nathalie Raulet‐Croset

Abstract

Research into nonprofit organizations’ (NPOs) social impact—and especially how it is measured—has drawn attention in recent years. Social impact evaluation (SIE) is a form of institutional pressure exerted on NPOs and can be considered a rational myth (Meyer & Rowan, 1977). In this article, we focus on the organizational response to this institutional demand and use the theoretical framework of inhabited institutions (Hallett & Ventresca, 2006) to analyze the local dynamics of SIE implementation. The research is based on a case study and uses an action research methodology to investigate the long‐term SIE appropriation process in a large French charity that supports young people facing social difficulties. Although external actors have mostly supported the SIE, we show that internal actors have gradually developed a localized and “pragmatic” response to the institutional pressure to SIE. We also show that this response has been constructed through different phases of appropriation and has modified the institutional prescriptions of SIE.

Suggested Citation

  • Julien Kleszczowski & Nathalie Raulet‐Croset, 2022. "Evaluating social impact in practice: Constructing a response to institutional demand in a French nonprofit organization," Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 93(2), pages 357-380, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:annpce:v:93:y:2022:i:2:p:357-380
    DOI: 10.1111/apce.12368
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/apce.12368
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/apce.12368?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Hugues Mouchamps, 2014. "Weighing elephants with kitchen scales," International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 63(6), pages 727-745, July.
    2. Antonella Noya, 2015. "Social Entrepreneurship - Social Impact Measurement for Social Enterprises," OECD Employment Policy Papers 10, OECD Publishing.
    3. Gerardo Patriotta, 2020. "Actors and Actorhood in Institutional Theory," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 57(4), pages 867-872, June.
    4. Ignacio Bretos & Marie J. Bouchard & Alberto Zevi, 2020. "Institutional and organizational trajectories in social economy enterprises: Resilience, transformation and regeneration," Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 91(3), pages 351-358, September.
    5. O'Dwyer, Brendan & Unerman, Jeffrey, 2008. "The paradox of greater NGO accountability: A case study of Amnesty Ireland," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 33(7-8), pages 801-824.
    6. repec:dau:papers:123456789/2868 is not listed on IDEAS
    7. Ross Millar & Kelly Hall, 2013. "Social Return on Investment (SROI) and Performance Measurement," Public Management Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 15(6), pages 923-941, September.
    8. Alex Nicholls, 2018. "A General Theory of Social Impact Accounting: Materiality, Uncertainty and Empowerment," Journal of Social Entrepreneurship, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 9(2), pages 132-153, May.
    9. Hall, Matthew, 2014. "Evaluation logics in the third sector," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 46365, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    10. Alex Bitektine & Patrick Haack & Joel Bothello & Johanna Mair, 2020. "Inhabited Actors: Internalizing Institutions through Communication and Actorhood Models," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 57(4), pages 885-897, June.
    11. Ebrahim, Alnoor, 2003. "Accountability In Practice: Mechanisms for NGOs," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 31(5), pages 813-829, May.
    12. Eva Boxenbaum & Stefan Jonsson, 2017. "Isomorphism, diffusion and decoupling: Concept evolution and theoretical challenges," Post-Print hal-01488051, HAL.
    13. Nicolas Berland & Benjamin Dreveton, 2006. "Management control system in public administration: beyond rational myths," Post-Print hal-01667068, HAL.
    14. Nicolas Berland & Benjamin Dreveton, 2006. "Management control system in public administration: beyond rational myths," Post-Print hal-00340432, HAL.
    15. Nicholls, Alex, 2009. "'We do good things, don't we?': 'Blended Value Accounting' in social entrepreneurship," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 34(6-7), pages 755-769, August.
    16. Julie Battilana & Bernard Leca & Eva Boxenbaum, 2009. "How actors change institutions : Towards a theory of institutional entrepreneurship," Post-Print hal-00576509, HAL.
    17. Olivier Boiral, 2007. "Corporate Greening Through ISO 14001: A Rational Myth?," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 18(1), pages 127-146, February.
    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. Othmar Manfred Lehner & Alex Nicholls & Sarah Beatrice Kapplmüller, 2022. "Arenas of Contestation: A Senian Social Justice Perspective on the Nature of Materiality in Impact Measurement," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 179(4), pages 971-989, September.
    2. Elisa Ricciuti & Francesca Calò, 2018. "Are foundations assessing their impact? Concepts, methods and barriers to social impact assessment in Italian foundations," International Review on Public and Nonprofit Marketing, Springer;International Association of Public and Non-Profit Marketing, vol. 15(4), pages 553-574, December.
    3. Clerkin, Brendan & Quinn, Martin, 2021. "Institutional agents missing in action?: Management accounting at non-governmental organisations," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    4. Chenhall, Robert H. & Hall, Matthew & Smith, David, 2017. "The expressive role of performance measurement systems: a field study of a mental health development project," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 46364, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    5. Boomsma, Roel & O'Dwyer, Brendan, 2019. "Constituting the governable NGO: The correlation between conduct and counter-conduct in the evolution of funder-NGO accountability relations," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 1-20.
    6. Urquía-Grande, Elena & Estébanez, Raquel Pérez & Alcaraz-Quiles, Francisco José, 2022. "Impact of Non-Profit Organizations’ Accountability: Empirical evidence from the democratic Republic of Congo," World Development Perspectives, Elsevier, vol. 28(C).
    7. Maxim Voronov & Mary Ann Glynn & Klaus Weber, 2022. "Under the Radar: Institutional Drift and Non‐Strategic Institutional Change," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 59(3), pages 819-842, May.
    8. Kirsten Andersen & Rebecca Tekula, 2022. "Value, Values, and Valuation: The Marketization of Charitable Foundation Impact Investing," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 179(4), pages 1033-1052, September.
    9. Cuckston, Thomas, 2022. "Accounts of NGO performance as calculative spaces: Wild Animals, wildlife restoration and strategic agency," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    10. Molecke, Greg & Pinkse, Jonatan, 2017. "Accountability for social impact: A bricolage perspective on impact measurement in social enterprises," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 32(5), pages 550-568.
    11. Dewi, Miranti Kartika & Manochin, Melina & Belal, Ataur, 2021. "Towards a conceptual framework of beneficiary accountability by NGOs: An Indonesian case study," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    12. Julien Kleszczowski, 2016. "La place des parties prenantes dans l’évaluation de l’impact social des organisations non lucratives: étude empirique au sein d’une organisation française," Post-Print hal-01901230, HAL.
    13. Dorothea Baur & Hans Schmitz, 2012. "Corporations and NGOs: When Accountability Leads to Co-optation," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 106(1), pages 9-21, March.
    14. Marco Bellucci & Carmela Nitti & Chiara Chimirri & Luca Bagnoli, 2019. "Rendicontare l?impatto sociale. Metodologie, indicatori e tre casi di sperimentazione in Toscana," MANAGEMENT CONTROL, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2019(3), pages 166-187.
    15. Ansellia Adams & John M. Luiz, 2022. "Incomplete Institutional Change and the Persistence of Racial Inequality: The Contestation of Institutional Misalignment in South Africa," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 59(4), pages 857-885, June.
    16. Alshurafa, Mohammed & Kamla, Rania, 2024. "Accountability and the postcolonial identity of Palestinian human rights NGO activists," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 112(C).
    17. Duval, Anne-Marie & Gendron, Yves & Roux-Dufort, Christophe, 2015. "Exhibiting nongovernmental organizations: Reifying the performance discourse through framing power," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 31-53.
    18. Hyman Zyl & Frederik Claeyé, 2019. "Up and Down, and Inside Out: Where do We Stand on NGO Accountability?," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 31(3), pages 604-619, July.
    19. Janni Grouleff Nielsen & Rainer Lueg & Dennis van Liempd, 2019. "Managing Multiple Logics: The Role of Performance Measurement Systems in Social Enterprises," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(8), pages 1-23, April.
    20. Hee‐Chan Song, 2023. "Identity Conflict Amidst Environmental Change: An Ethnography of a Korean Buddhist Temple," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 60(4), pages 889-923, June.

    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:bla:annpce:v:93:y:2022:i:2:p:357-380. 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: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=1370-4788 .

    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.