Do Nonprofit Organizations Experience Precarious Employment? The Impact of NGO Commercialization

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to examine if Polish non-governmental organizations (NGOs) experience the precarious employment and to identify whether the commercialization of NGOs influences this phenomenon. The study confirms that Polish NGOs experience precarious employment. The greater flexibility a given form of employee engagement provides, the greater the number of NGOs using it. Only a small percentage of organizations employ full-time employees. However, the commercialization does not significantly affect precarious employment in NGOs, moreover it does not impact on the employment of contract employees who had previously worked for the organization as volunteers.

Finansowanie przedsiębiorstw społecznych w Polsce w warunkach gospodarki 4.0

“…Z kolei rozważania ekonomiczne obejmują podejście przedstawiające konsekwencje prekarnego zatrudnienia dla gospodarki jako całości. Z punktu widzenia organizacji badania dotyczą głównie działań podmiotów komercyjnych w zakresie kształtowania ich konkurencyjności, radzenia sobie ze zmianami technologicznymi i optymalizacją kosztów (Mikołajczak, 2021a).…”

The Power of the Powerless: Constructions of Self‐Employment in Czechia

“…The results of discursive analyses often contrast with the results of studies dealing with the lived reality of entrepreneurs and self-employed people, which emphasise the precariousness and uncertainty of their living conditions. For example, neoliberal austerity policies and project work have led to the increasing number of precarious employments in civil society organisations (CSOs; Mikołajczak, 2021). As a result, insecurity and precarity-with differences in severity and urgency-are experienced by young workers with low cultural and economic capital (MacDonald & Giazitzoglu, 2019), along with workers with high cultural capital, such as academics (Burlyuk & Rahbari, 2023;Docka-Filipek & Stone, 2021) and the ICT industry and game development sub-sector (Keogh & Abraham, 2022;Ruffino, 2021).…”

The Impact of Organisational Values on the Commercialisation of NGOs: Evidence Based on the Management by Values Theory

“…Gras and Mendoza-Abarca (2014) studied the performance implications of the scale of commercialisation. The indifferent impact of commercialisation on precarious employment was confirmed by Mikołajczak (2021a). Foster and Bradach (2005) argue that 'earned-income ventures do have a role in the non-profit sector, but unrealistic expectations are distorting managers' decisions, wasting precious resources, and leaving important social needs unmet.'…”

“…Among the factors that stimulate the commercialisation of non-profit organisations, those resulting from an increasingly challenging resource environment come to the fore. Researchers indicate that commercial revenues compensate for the shortage of public funds (Eikenberry, Kluver, 2004;Carroll, Stater, 2009), emphasising the need for their diversification (Froelich, 1999;Mikołajczak, 2018) and independence from them (Steen-Johnsen, Enjolras, 2011;Mikołajczak, 2021a). Other authors have emphasised the role of competition.…”