How Social Service Nonprofits Strategize in Response to Government-led Evaluation: An Exploratory Research in China

Abstract

<p>Social service nonprofits (SSNs) are subjected to institutional evaluation to gain organizational credibility from the government. While previous research explored the nonprofit strategies and the corresponding factors to respond to governmental regulations, little research is known about how Chinese social service nonprofits strategize to manage the regulatory evaluation led by the government. Grounded Theory analysis was conducted with in-depth interviews (N=20) of participants in the government-led evaluation in Shanghai. This paper generated an inductive mechanism and concluded three organizational strategies in the government-led evaluation: ‘pursuing’, ‘coping’ and ‘avoiding’. The strategies are affected by five main factors: organizational evaluation capacity, agency internal governance, organizational political development, localized industry development and evaluation policy design. Implications for NPO-Government relations from the organizational perspective in the authoritarian context and beyond are further discussed.<br></p>