Organizational Diversity, Vitality and Outcomes

Sociologists often assert, but rarely test, the claim that organizational diversity benefi ts social movements by invigorating movement vitality and facilitating success. Our analysis of black civil rights organizations shows that goal and tactical diversity of a social movement is largely a function of organizational density, level of resources available to the movement, and the number of protests initiated by the movement. Goal diversity increases the rate of protest, whereas tactical diversity increases the likelihood of achieving a desired policy outcome. These fi ndings advance our understanding of social movements and organizations by illuminating how organizational dynamics of a social movement might change over time, and in turn how this change might affect the vitality and desired outcomes of social movements. Does the diversity of goals and tactics in a population of social movement organizations (SMOs) matter to social movements, and if so, how? It is difficult to answer this question because few studies have addressed it systematically. Organizational theorists have claimed that organizational diversity matters for the persistence and success of certain organizational forms, but they disagree about what factors allow diversity to flourish (Hannan and Freeman 1986; Carroll and Hannan 2000; Carroll and Swaminathan 2000; Hannan 2005). Social movement scholars have also claimed that rising diversity matters, but they disagree as to whether its effect on movement outcomes is positive or negative (Oberschal