Management innovation in nonprofit organizations: an explorative study of the antecedents

International audienceThis study explores the antecedents of management innovation in nonprofit organizations. Several research on management innovation have highlighted the antecedents within firms while nonprofit organizations have been neglected, except very few articles on administrative innovation. Yet the strong growth of the nonprofit sector has given riseto new management issues within nonprofit organizations which represent a specific and original organizational context to investigate. This is why we have conducted a study case in two International Nongovernmental Organizations (INGOs) which have introduced a similar management innovation. We seek to identify antecedents of management innovation through the nonprofit organization specificities. On the one hand, our study underlines that nonprofit organizations present specific antecedents: a balanced culture of innovation and the fundraising difficulties. On the other hand we noted some of the antecedents that have already found in studies within firms: the role of internal human agency represented by an experienced mixed staff in nonprofit organizations; the internal communication which is based on trust in nonprofit organizations; the external networks characterized by a direct participation of external change agents or interorganizational relationships providing information from prior adopters. Then, we discuss theoretically our results which contribute to both literature on management innovation and literature on innovation in nonprofit organizations