Hostname: page-component-68c7f8b79f-xc2tv Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-01-02T12:01:31.887Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Blurring Hypothesis Reconsidered: How Sector Still Matters to Practitioners

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2026

Curtis Child ,
Eva Witesman  and
Robert Spencer
Curtis Child*
Affiliation:
Department of Sociology, Brigham Young University, 2008 JFSB, Provo, UT 84602, USA
Eva Witesman*
Affiliation:
Romney Institute of Public Management, Brigham Young University, 771 TNRB, Provo, UT 84602, USA
Robert Spencer*
Affiliation:
Department of Sociology, Brigham Young University, 2008 JFSB, Provo, UT 84602, USA
*
cchild@byu.edu
eva_witesman@byu.edu
robert.em.spencer@gmail.com
Get access

Abstract

This article asks: Is sector still a useful concept for social science research on nonprofit organizations and related fields, such as social entrepreneurship? We answer that it is relevant to practitioners for whom sector boundaries remain an important orienting feature of their organizational worldviews. This observation is at odds with the recent scholarship on “blurring” sector boundaries, much of which suggests that sector is increasingly an outdated concept. Data from one uniquely blended space—the fair trade industry—coupled with insights from Scott’s (Institutions and organizations: ideas, interests, and identities, 2014) theory about the three pillars of institutions suggest that sector remains meaningful despite developments that appear to render it obsolete.

Résumé

Résumé

Cet article pose la question suivante : le secteur est-il encore un concept utile pour la recherche en sciences sociales sur les organisations à but non lucratif et les domaines connexes, tels que l’entreprenariat social ? Nous répondons qu’il est pertinent pour les praticiens pour lesquels les limites du secteur restent un élément important d’orientation de leurs visions du monde organisationnelles. Cette observation est en contradiction avec la bourse d’études récente sur la « dilution » des limites de secteur, dont la majeure partie suggère que ce secteur est de plus en plus désuet. Les données d’un espace unique mixte — le secteur du commerce équitable — associées à l’éclairage apporté par la théorie de Scott (2014) sur les trois piliers des institutions suggèrent que ce secteur demeure significatif malgré les évènements qui semblent le rendre obsolète.

Zusammenfassung

Zusammenfassung

Dieser Beitrag beschäftigt sich mit der Frage, ob der Begriff „Sektor“noch immer ein nützliches Konzept ist für sozialwissenschaftliche Studien über Non-Profit-Organisationen und damit verbundene Bereiche, wie beispielsweise das soziale Unternehmertum. Unsere Antwort lautet, dass es für Praktiker relevant ist, für die Sektorgrenzen weiterhin ein wichtiges Orientierungsmerkmal in ihren organisatorischen Weltanschauungen darstellen. Diese Beobachtung widerspricht der jüngsten Forschung zur „Verwischung“der Sektorgrenzen, wo häufig behauptet wird, dass der „Sektor“zunehmend ein veraltetes Konzept ist. Daten aus einem einzigartigen gemischten Bereich - der Branche des fairen Handels - einhergehend mit den Erkenntnissen aus Scotts (2014) Theorie über die drei Säulen von Institutionen weisen darauf hin, dass der Begriff „Sektor“trotz der Entwicklungen, die ihn überholt erscheinen lassen, ein wichtiges Konzept bleibt.

Resumen

Resumen

El presente artículo se pregunta: ¿Sigue siendo el sector un concepto útil para la investigación de la ciencia social sobre las organizaciones sin ánimo de lucro y campos relacionados, tales como en el emprendimiento social? Respondemos que esto es relevante para los profesionales para los que los límites del sector siguen siendo una característica orientadora importante de sus visiones del mundo organizativo. Esta observación está en desacuerdo con eruditos recientes sobre el “desibujamiento” de los límites sectoriales, muchos de los cuales sugieren que el sector es cada vez más un concepto desfasado. Los datos de un espacio combinado de forma única - la industria del comercio justo - junto con percepciones de la teoría de Scott (2014) sobre los tres pilares de las instituciones sugieren que el sector sigue siendo significativo a pesar de los desarrollos que parecen hacerlo obsoleto.

摘要

摘要

首先提出一个问题:“行业”是否仍然是非盈利性组织及相关领域,例如,公益创业,社会科学研究的一个有用的概念?我们的答案是,这个概念对认为行业界限仍是其组织世界观导向性特征的从业者来讲仍然重要。这一发现与最近的行业界限“模糊化”学术研究存在矛盾,后者表示,行业正在成为过时的概念。一个独具特色的混合领域,即公平贸易行业,的数据以及有关机构三大要素的Scott’s(2014)理论的见解表明,虽然发展形势使其看似过时,但行业这一概念仍然具有意义。

要約

要約

本論文では以下について検討する。セクターはまだ非営利団体と社会起業家などの関連分における社会科学の研究のために有用な概念であるか。答えは、それが重要な方向づけを持つセクターの教会での実践者に関連する。この観察は「不明瞭な」セクターの境界における最近の資金運用に関する対立が、ますます時代遅れの概念を示唆している。ブレンドされた1つのスペースからデータ・フェア・トレード産業を用いると、スコットの理論 (2014)にある三本柱では、セクターは時代遅れに見える進展を遂げており、重要性を持つ。

ملخص

ملخص

يسأل هذا المقال: هل القطاع لا يزال فكرة مفيدة لبحوث العلوم الإجتماعية في المنظمات الغير ربحية والمجالات ذات الصلة، مثل المشاريع الإجتماعية؟ نحن نجيب أنه وثيق الصلة للممارسين الذين حدود القطاع لا تزال سمة مهمة موجهة لوجهات نظرهم العالمية التنظيمية. هذه الملاحظة هي على خلاف مع المنح الدراسية الحالية على “عدم وضوح” حدود القطاع، الكثير منها يشير إلى أن القطاع بشكل متزايد مفهوم قديم. بيانات من مزيج فريد مكان- معرض التجارة و الصناعة يقترن مع رؤى من نظرية (Scott) (2014)عن الركائز الثلاثة للمؤسسات تشير إلى أن القطاع لا يزال ذا معنى على الرغم من التطورات التي تظهر لجعله عفا عليه الزمن.

Keywords

Blurring boundariesSector theorySocial entrepreneurshipSocial enterpriseInstitutionsOrganization theoryFair trade

Information

Type
Original Paper
Information
Voluntas: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations , Volume 27 , Issue 4 , August 2016 , pp. 1831 - 1852
Copyright
Copyright © International Society for Third-Sector Research and The Johns Hopkins University 2015

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

Footnotes

Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi: 10.1007/s11266-015-9564-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

References

Anheier, H. K., & Seibel, W. (1990). The third sector in comparative perspective: Four positions. In Anheier, H. K. & Seibel, W. (Eds.), The third sector: Comparative studies of nonprofit organizations (pp. 379–387). New York, NY: Walter de Gruyter. doi: 10.1515/9783110868401.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Billis, D. (1993). Sector blurring and nonprofit centers: The case of the united kingdom. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 22, 241–257. doi: 10.1177/0899764093223006.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bozeman, B. (1988). Exploring the limits of public and private sectors: Sector boundaries as maginot line. Public Administration Review, 48, 672–674. doi: 10.2307/975772.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brody, E. (1996). Institutional dissonance in the nonprofit sector. Villanova Law Review, 41, 433–504.Google Scholar
Bromley, P., & Meyer, J. W. (2014). “They are all organizations” the cultural roots of blurring between the nonprofit, business, and government sectors. Administration & Society, 1–28. http://aas.sagepub.com/content/early/2014/09/03/0095399714548268.full.pdf.Google Scholar
Campbell, J. L. (2007). Why would corporations behave in socially responsible ways? An institutional theory of corporate social responsibility. Academy of Management Review, 32, 946–967. doi: 10.5465/AMR.2007.25275684.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carman, J. G., & Nesbit, R. (2013). Founding new nonprofit organizations syndrome or symptom?. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 42, 603–621. doi: 10.1177/0899764012459255.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Child, C. (2014). Bulwarks against market pressures. Value rationality in the for-profit pursuit of social missions. Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, 1–30. http://jce.sagepub.com/content/early/2014/08/19/0891241614545881.Google Scholar
Child, C., Witesman, E. M., & Braudt, D. B. (2014). Sector choice: How fair trade entrepreneurs choose between nonprofit and for-profit forms. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 1–20. http://nvs.sagepub.com/content/early/2014/07/16/0899764014542688.Google Scholar
Cooney, K., & Shanks, T. R. W. (2010). New approaches to old problems: Market-based strategies for poverty alleviation. Social Service Review, 84, 29–55. doi: 10.1086/652680.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dart, R. (2004). The legitimacy of social enterprise. Nonprofit Management & Leadership, 14, 411–424. doi: 10.1002/nml.43.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dees, J. G., & Anderson, B. (2003). Sector-bending: Blurring lines between nonprofit and for-profit. Society, 40, 16–27. doi: 10.1007/s12115-003-1014-z.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
DiMaggio, P., & Anheier, H. K. (1990). The sociology of nonprofit organizations and sectors. Annual Review of Sociology, 16, 137–159. doi: 10.1146/annurev.so.16.080190.001033.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eikenberry, A. M., & Kluver, J. D. (2004). The marketization of the nonprofit sector: Civil society at risk?. Public Administration Review, 64, 132–140. doi: 10.1111/j.1540-6210.2004.00355.x.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fridell, G. (2007). Fair trade coffee: The prospects and pitfalls of market-driven social justice. Toronto, Canada: University of Toronto Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Frumkin, P. (2013). Dennis young and supply side theory. In Young, D. R. (Ed.), If not for profit, for what?: 2013 Faculty Books. Book I. http://scholarworks.gsu.edu/facbooks2013/1.Google Scholar
Gazley, B., & Brudney, J. L. (2007). The purpose (and perils) of government-nonprofit partnership. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 36, 389–415. doi: 10.1177/0899764006295997.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gottesman, M. D. (2007). From cobblestones to pavement: The legal road forward for the creation of hybrid social organizations. Yale Law & Policy Review, 26, 345–358.Google Scholar
Hall, P. D. (1992). Inventing the nonprofit sector and other essays on philanthropy, voluntarism, and nonprofit organizations. Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins University Press.Google Scholar
Hallett, T., & Ventresca, M. (2006). Inhabited institutions: Social interactions and organizational forms in Gouldner’s patterns of industrial bureaucracy. Theory and Society, 35, 213–236. doi: 10.1007/s11186-006-9003-z.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hansmann, H. (1981). The rationale for exempting nonprofit organizations from corporate income taxation. Yale Law Journal, 91, 54–100. doi: 10.2307/795849.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Helmig, B., Hinz, V., & Ingerfurth, S. (2014). Valuing organizational values: Assessing the uniqueness of nonprofit values. Voluntas, 1–27. doi: 10.1007/s11266-11014-19530-11266.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jaffee, D. (2007). Brewing justice: Fair trade coffee, sustainability, and survival. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
John, D., Kettl, D. F., Dyer, B., & Lovan, W. R. (1994). What will new governance mean for the federal government?. Public Administration Review, 54, 170–175. doi: 10.2307/976526.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kelley, T. (2009). Law and choice of entity on the social enterprise frontier. Tulane Law Review, 84, 337–377.Google Scholar
Kerlin, J. A., & Gagnaire, K. (2009). United states. In Kerlin, J. A. (Ed.), Social enterprise: A global comparison (pp. 87–113). Lebanon, NH: Tufts University Press.Google Scholar
Kramer, R. M. (2000). A third sector in the third millennium?. Voluntas: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations, 11, 1–23. doi: 10.1023/A:1008914531485.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Langton, S. (1987). Envoi: Developing nonprofit theory. Journal of Voluntary Action Research, 16, 134–148.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McWilliams, A., Siegel, D. S., & Wright, P. M. (2006). Corporate social responsibility: Strategic implications. Journal of Management Studies, 43, 1–18. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-6486.2006.00580.x.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meyer, J. W., & Bromley, P. (2013). The worldwide expansion of “organization”. Sociological Theory, 31, 366–389. doi: 10.1177/0735275113513264.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miles, M. B., & Huberman, A. M. (1994). Qualitative data analysis: An expanded sourcebook. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.Google Scholar
Miller-Stevens, K., Taylor, J. A., & Morris, J. C. (2014). Are we really on the same page? An empirical examination of value congruence between public sector and nonprofit sector managers. Voluntas, 1–23. doi: 10.1007/s11266-11014-19514-11266.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rainey, H. G., Backoff, R. W., & Levine, C. H. (1976). Comparing public and private organizations. Public Administration Review, 36, 233–244. doi: 10.2307/975145.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Raynolds, L. T., Murray, D. L., & Wilkinson, J. (2007). Fair trade: The challenges of transforming globalization. New York, NY: Routledge.10.4324/9780203933534CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reiser, D. B. (2010). Blended enterprise and the dual mission dilemma. Vermont Law Review, 35, 105–116.Google Scholar
Reiser, D. B. (2011). Benefit corporations–a sustainable form of organization. Wake Forest Law Review, 46, 591–625.Google Scholar
Salamon, L. M. (1996). The crisis of the nonprofit sector and the challenge of renewal. National Civic Review, 85, 3–16. doi: 10.1002/ncr.4100850403.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scott, W. R. (2014). Institutions and organizations: Ideas, interests, and identities (4th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Strauss, A., & Corbin, J. (1998). Basics of qualitative research: Techniques and procedures for developing grounded theory (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications Inc.Google Scholar
Swedberg, R. (2014). The art of social theory. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press doi: 10.1515/9781400850358.Google Scholar
Weisbrod, B. A. (1997). The future of the nonprofit sector: Its entwining with private enterprise and government. Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 16, 541–555. doi: 10.1002/(SICI)1520-6688(199723)16:4<541::AID-PAM2>3.0.CO;2-G.3.0.CO;2-G>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weiss, R. S. (1994). Learning from strangers: The art and method of qualitative interview studies. New York, NY: The Free Press.Google Scholar
Witesman, E. M., & Fernandez, S. (2012). Government contracts with private organizations: Are there differences between nonprofits and for-profits?. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 42, 689–715. doi: 10.1177/0899764012442592.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Young, D. R., & Salamon, L. M. (2002). Commercialization, social ventures, and for-profit competition. In Salamon, L. M. (Ed.), The state of nonprofit America (pp. 423–446). Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press.Google Scholar
Young, D. R., Salamon, L. M., & Grinsfelder, M. C. (2012). Commercialization, social ventures, and for-profit competition. In Salamon, L. M. (Ed.), The state of nonprofit America (2nd ed., pp. 521–548). Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press.Google Scholar
Supplementary material: File

Child et al. supplementary material

Child et al. supplementary material
Download Child et al. supplementary material(File)
File 127.5 KB