Organizational Form, Population Dynamics, and Institutional Changes: The Founding Patterns of Voluntary Organizations

Abstract

Questions related to founding are of central importance to the study of organizations. Recent research in organizational ecology has suggested that ecological dynamics—previous foundings, disbandings, and the number of organizations alive—influence founding levels. Major changes in institutional environments also influence new foundings and can alter ecological dynamics. This study investigated whether the relationship between foundings, population dynamics, and institutional changes in a population of voluntary social service organizations differed for specialist (single-domain) and generalist (multiple-domain) organizations. Results generally showed that both ecological dynamics and institutional changes have stronger influences on specialists than on generalists.