Cover -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Table of Contents -- List of illustrations -- Acknowledgements -- List of abbreviations -- 1 Voluntary and non-profit organizations and innovation in public services -- 2 Conceptualizing voluntary activity -- Developing a typology of voluntary activity -- Defining organized voluntary activity -- 3 Innovations, innovators and innovating -- The nature of innovation -- Some wider issues in organization theory -- VNPOs and innovation in the personal social services -- Combining the literatures-the present state of knowledge and research questions for this study -- 4 Research methodology -- Developing the research methodology used in this study -- Reliability and validity in this study -- Initiating the research process -- 5 Mapping and defining the innovative activity of VNPOs -- Mapping the innovative activity of VNPOs -- The attributes of innovative VNPOs -- Conclusions -- 6 Four causal hypotheses and a process -- The organizational hypothesis -- The cultural hypothesis -- The environmental hypothesis -- The institutional hypothesis -- The process of innovation -- 7 The innovative capacity of VNPOs -- Toward a model of the innovative capacity of VNPOs -- The hard cases -- Implications for theory and research -- Lessons for the management of the innovative capacity of VNPOs -- References -- Index.

The innovative capacity of voluntary organizations has become a touchstone for their role in providing public services. Across the world there are increasing pressures on voluntary organizations to improve the quality and effectiveness of public services through innovation and change. This volume uses original research to assess the innovative capacity of voluntary organizations. It provides: * a conceptual framework for understanding the innovative capacity of voluntary organizations * empirical evidence detailing the nature and extent of innovation * an analysis of successful innovators in personal social services * the applicability of the for-profit model of innovation to non-profit organizations * an account of the contingent nature of voluntary organizations' relationship to their external environment and particularly their main funders. The development of a theory of innovation in non-market and nonprofit conditions makes this volume an important addition to organizational studies literature.

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Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, Michigan : ProQuest Ebook Central, 2018. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ProQuest Ebook Central affiliated libraries.