Research Insights

Interorganizational Network Change

View the Resource By Michelle Shumate, Zachary Gibson This chapter examines current theorizing and research on interorganizational network change, and considers its antecedents, processes, outcomes, and management. We perform a systematic review of this literature across several disciplines, including communication, management, organization studies, public administration, and technology studies. Combining the frameworks laid out by Kilduff and Tsai (2003) and Van de Ven and Poole (1995), we demonstrate that the process

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Research Summary: Implementing Culturally Competent Transplant Care and Implications for Reducing Health Disparities

By Brett Mayfield   Health inequalities continue to pose a significant public health problem, so nonprofit leaders often must intervene with this challenge head-on. However, these interventions are usually not widely practiced or not delivered as initially planned, even though effective evidence-based interventions are available today. Unfortunately, ongoing inequalities continue in the public health sphere because organizations often face significant barriers to implementing these interventions. To confront these health disparities,

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Why Do U.S. Faith-Based Organizations Resist Collaboration?

By Katelyn Zilke Interorganizational collaboration is crucial to addressing complex social problems.  Faith-based nonprofits are an essential part of the social service landscape, often providing human services and providing connections to hard to reach populations. But previous research suggests they are less likely to collaborate than their secular counterparts. A new study from the Network for Nonprofit and Social Impact at Northwestern University sheds light on the challenges FBOs face

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Why Is It So Hard to Scale up Evidence-Based Practices? And What Can You Do about It?

by: Katelyn Zilke How do leaders with a great evidence-based practice take it to scale? The challenge of getting organizational leaders across an entire field to adopt innovations remains one of the most daunting management dilemmas of our time. New research from the Network for Nonprofit and Social Impact at Northwestern University unlocks why it’s just so hard to scale up and what leaders can do about it.   How does

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Networks and Equity

Black Lives Matter protests in the wake of the murder of George Floyd have reminded the country about the inequality that is woven into the fabric of many countries, especially the United States. Problems like intergenerational poverty and economic inequality, chronic and infectious disease, home flooding, and educational outcomes are all marked by the systemic racism that plagues the country. Leaders forge networks to reduce or end these wicked problems.

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Organizational and Individual Innovation Decisions in an Interorganizational System: Social Influence and Decision-Making Authority

View the Resource By Sophia Fu, Michelle Shumate, Noshir Contractor This study examines the processes of complex innovation adoption in an interorganizational system. It distinguishes the innovation adoption mechanisms of organizational-decision-makers (ODMs), who make authority adoption decisions on behalf of an organization, from individual-decision-makers (IDMs), who make optional innovation decisions in their own work practice. Drawing on the Theory of Reasoned Action and Social Information Processing Theory, we propose and

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