Spanning the Boundaries

Abstract

Theories of formal organizations have recently argued that environmental influences affect behavior in all organizations, including human service organizations. The study tests how environmental influences are manifested in the differences in effectiveness gaps and empowerment between private and public carriers of services. On the basis of hypotheses drawn from the institutional and resource-dependency approach, and employing a managerial sample from 127 human service organizations, it is shown that effectiveness gaps are affected directly by environmental influences (stakeholders) in the public HSOs. It is, however, organizational structure and managerial competence that generate effectiveness gaps in the independent HSOs. No differences in managerial empowerment between public and independent HSOs are revealed. The results imply that because of their different degree of dependence on public resources, and despite their common institutional character in the provision of services, public and independent HSOs differ in their organizational behavior and outcomes.

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