Competition and Collaboration in the Nonprofit Sector: Identifying the Potential for Cognitive Dissonance

Cali Curley, Jamie Levine Daniel, Marlene Walk, Nicky Harrison

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Nonprofits compete with collaborators and collaborate with competitors regularly. Collaboration, a long-standing normatively preferred strategy for nonprofits, is utilized as modus operandi without thought to the potential unintended consequences. While competition is a dirty word for nonprofits, it is a necessary but undesirable reality and should not be avoided without consideration to the potential benefits. Nonprofit leaders may not be willing to explicitly acknowledge the use of competition as an operational strategy, which makes room for cognitive dissonance to impact the study of nonprofits. This piece identifies impacts of cognitive dissonance offering direction for future research exploring the interactive nature of competing with collaborators.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)1293-1311
Number of pages19
JournalAdministration and Society
Volume53
Issue number8
DOIs
StatePublished - Sep 2021

Keywords

  • collaboration
  • competition
  • nonprofits

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Sociology and Political Science
  • Public Administration
  • Marketing

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