• English
  • Italiano
Wollebaeck, D. (2009). Age, Size and Change in Local Voluntary Associations. Acta Sociologica 52 (4), 365-384.

To what extent can conventional organizational theories help us understand changes in local voluntary associations? Using unique data from all associations in a Norwegian county, the article explores hypotheses concerning how size and age affect change behaviour. The results show that high organizational age increases the probability of core change, but decreases the occurrence of peripheral change. The average age of the field in which the organization is active is negatively related to both types of change. The findings suggest that old voluntary organizations are more tenacious than for-profit actors; they choose to attempt change rather than disband if becoming obsolete or pressured by the environment. The degrees of freedom are greater in new, non-institutionalized fields than within fields with a long history. Size has a weakly positive effect on both change indicators. Stronger data and theory-building efforts are needed if we are to extend our knowledge of this under-researched, but immensely important, organization type.

Authors

Wollebæk, Dag

Upcoming events

No events in the list.