Helen K. Liu

Do Poverty Attitudes of Social Service Agency Directors Influence Organizational Behavior

This article explores why people are poor and on welfare, according to social service agency directors who administer programs that serve current and former welfare recipients. Based on data from 295 local social service agency directors in Indiana, 75% of respondents believe educational and labor market barriers are important causes of long-term poverty and welfare, 44% believe cultural transmission or learned lifestyles are causes, 23% believe poor attitudes and work ethics as well as laziness or lack of motivation among the poor are causes, and 8% believe government assistance causes dependency among recipients and makes them poor. Evidence suggests that agency directors who believe that poor attitudes and behavior of the poor primarily cause poverty and welfare are more likely to be in organizations that did not ration services since welfare reform or engage in political activities designed to support these changes. In contrast, agency directors who maintain educational and labor market barriers as primary causes of poverty and welfare are more likely to be in organizations that have adopted new programs and developed collaborative strategies with other organizations since welfare reform.

Incorporated but Not IRS-Registered: Exploring the (Dark) Grey Fringes of the Nonprofit Universe

Listings of Internal Revenue Service (IRS)-registered and state-incorporated nonprofits for the same region may differ for a variety of reasons. Using Indiana as a case study, we first describe the distribution of nonprofits across these two listings. We then present findings from a small telephone survey of incorporated nonprofits that are not registered with the IRS for Indiana to explore whether they are excluded from the IRS-listing for statutory, technical, or compliance reasons. We consider several aspects of state incorporation status: date of incorporation and whether active status has been maintained or not. We conclude that researchers need to pay careful attention to the limitations of the IRS registration system when wishing to examine the dimensions of the nonprofit sector at local, state, or regional levels. Our finding, that some nonprofits fail to maintain active incorporation status, points to significant problems of nonprofit capacity.

Factors Influencing Network Formation Among Social Service Nonprofit Organizations in Hong Kong and Implications for Comparative and China Studies

ABSTRACT This article examines the factors influencing network formation among social service nonprofit organizations (NPOs) in Hong Kong and aims to illustrate the value of comparative studies of network formation. We argue that two distinct funding regimes, namely a statist-corporatist regime and a liberal regime, are present in Hong Kong. Based on the characteristics of these funding regimes, we examine five factors affecting the size of networks: organizational size, joint-action experience, resource dependency, program needs, and environmental uncertainty. Our study shows that social service NPOs that were formed in two different historical time periods display markedly different operational behavior in networking. While the joint-action experience and program needs of an organization demonstrate a consistent influence on the network formation of NPOs, the effects of organizational size and resource dependency on network size are moderated by environmental uncertainty. We contend that, due to historical and political contexts that are unique to this region, hybridity may be a characteristic of state–nonprofit relations in Greater China. Such unique contexts give rise to patterns of network formation and collaborative governance that may have important implications for state–nonprofit relations and civil society development.

Exploring Online Engagement in Public Policy Consultation: The Crowd or the Few?

Governments are increasingly adopting online platforms to engage the public and allow a broad and diverse group of citizens to participate in the planning of government policies. To understand the role of crowds in the online public policy process, we analyse participant contributions over time in two crowd-based policy processes, the Future Melbourne wiki and the Open Government Dialogue. Although past evaluations have shown the significance of public consultations by expanding the engaged population within a short period of time, our empirical case studies suggest that a small number of participants contribute a disproportionate share of ideas and opinions. We discuss the implications of our initial examination for the future design of engagement platforms.

A Case Study of Open Source and Public Participation in Catalyzing Social Innovations

Our study investigates the use of a new open source platform in catalyzing social innovations and participation of its members over time. We empirically examined how the nature of project designs and social pressure affect contribution to the open source platform. In the twenty-one projects (3, 998 contributions) from 2004 to 2009, we find that the average number of contributions is higher when the projects are highly visible, when the project is designed to require specific skills from participants, and when it requires outcome measurement from participants’ proposals. Also, we verified that actors join collective action when they believe their contribution is meaningful and they would stop when they believe their contribution could be marginal. These results provide implications for open source platform design in the philanthropic sector.

Using Multimedia Learning Objects in Public Affairs Classrooms: Global Experiences with Hubert Project E-Cases and E-Studies

Abstract This article describes the development and implementation of multimedia learning objects to improve the relevance of public affairs education in three national contexts: Kenya, the United States, and China (Hong Kong). We explore how written cases have evolved into a new generation of multimedia learning materials that provide context-specific information to hone public affairs students’ critical thinking and pragmatic social skills. Then, drawing upon our experiences, we describe the particular pedagogical strategies used to ensure that the materials can be effective resources in creating dynamic classrooms within each context. In this way, this article introduces themes relevant to understanding how open-access learning objects interact with particular contexts, suggesting new avenues for practice and research in public affairs education.

The Challenges of Implementing Collaborative Governance in Hong Kong: Case Study of a Low-Income Family Community

The delivery of social services to low-income families that may be struggling with a variety of challenges often requires a high level of coordination from service providers in different fields. In Hong Kong, in particular, a series of policies and centers aimed at fostering integrative approaches have been established in order to enhance collaboration among service providers at the community level. Some of these include Integrated Children and Youth Services, Integrated Home Care Services, Integrative Family Service Centres (IFSCs), and Integrated Community Centres for Mental Wellness. However, families still find themselves having difficulties in muddling through the system in order to get their problems solved, and service providers find themselves facing unrealistic demands and struggling between managing caseloads and coordinating with different community actors.

NETWORK AND SOCIAL SERVICE AGENCY PERFORMANCE: EMPIRICAL LINKS.

This study investigates how individual network properties, derived from the entire network, affect organizational performance. This paper examines how network centrality, informal ties, and network...