The concept of interorganizational field refers to the pattern of relationships or the context within which organizations negotiate or compete to accomplish their goals. This paper examines the proposition that the type of interorganizational field shapes and· influences interactions between organizations. To explore the nature of any contextual effects, a hypothesis is extracted to represent each of four subareas of the literature: the transaction or exchange, the resource dependency, the communication, and the division of labor subareas. Non-verification of the hypotheses indicates the extent and the manner in which interorganizational fields can affect relations between organizations. A case study of these hypotheses is presented for one type of interorganizational field, a federation of social service agencies. The federation includes eight organizations which delivered services and an administrative component to facilitate interagency coordination. The data, which were gathered from project documents, monthly records, and a series of interviews of representatives from each of these organizations, permit analysis of the federation's two-year tenure. Analysis of these data leave three of the four hypotheses not verified, with only the hypothesis on communication between organizations being upheld. These findings suggest that the ''norms of rationality” alleged to govern organizational decision-making are actually assessed according to characteristics of the interorganizational context. More generally, the conclusion is that the interorganizational field level of analysis merits further examination as a causal context. By specifying the nature of this context, it ultimately is possible to theorize whether the effects of variables across fields are linear or curvilinear, and whether interaction effects exist.

All organizations are concerned with survival and effectiveness, but for third sector and public organizations these issues are acute; they hinge on the organization’s ability to establish and sustain its legitimacy. Legitimacy has been defined as a manifestation of value congruence between an organization’s activities and the social system within which it functions (Dowling and Pfeffer, 1975). This study oxamines the multi-dimensionality of organizational legitirnicy in a comparative case study of nonprofit service organizitions (NSO’s) which provide HIV education and support services for women. Processes of seeking organizational legitirnacy are identified and organizational relationships analyzed within the environmental networks of clientele and the interorganizational network. The study also seeks to identity tte focus and progression of legitimating efforts over tho course of the organization’s existence. Tw. Community based organizations are included; one in the United States and one in the Spanish-speaking Caribbean. The organizations studied are directed to women in a variety of circumstances: sex workers, drug users, and women who self-identify as being at risk. The majority of clients were Hispanic, although a few were Caucasian and African-American. The study is intended to generate theory as to how organizations address legitimacy in a multidimensional environment, and how this challenge has been confronted in the case of NSO’s serving women at risk for HIV. The study identifies strategies for preserving the organization’s internally defined objectives and processes and its active relationship with the client community. / Ph. D.

By two cases, Amity Foundation and Shanghai YMCA, the paper described the situation of the contemporary China's Christianity-based social service organizations, analyzed the social capital they have generated, and explored their influence on the development of civil society in China. First of all, I did the literature review on the concept of civil society and social capital under the West and China's background, as for the social capital especially focusing on Robert Putnam's social capital analysis. Then I did the analysis based on the two cases from my field-work data collection. I concluded that these faith-based social service organizations have generated the positive social influences and social capital, fulfilled the huge social needs, and played an important role in pushing the development of civil society in China through their social service work. At the same time, we could get the new definition and recognition to the function model of these associations and civil society different with the West perspective: a non-conflict cooperation model. These service-oriented associations could communicate and cooperate with government effectively and positively, and become the "de-compressor" of the individual existence in market economy development, the "safety valve" of social security, and the "incubator" of civil society. / 曹飛廉. / Adviser: K. M. Chan. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 70-03, Section: A, page: 1052. / Thesis (doctoral)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 176-178). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. [Ann Arbor, MI] : ProQuest Information and Learning, [200-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstracts in Chinese and English. / School code: 1307. / Cao Feilian.