Being “Business-Like” in a Nonprofit Organization: A Grounded and Inductive Typology

Abstract

Little research has systematically examined the concept of being business-like in a non-profit organization setting despite the increased importance of this concept in research, policy, and practitioner communities. Based on an in-depth qualitative case study of a single, Canadian, nonprofit human services organization, this article proposes that being business-like in a nonprofit setting can be understood in at least four distinct categories: as goals of programs, as organization of either program service delivery or organizational management, and as organizational rhetoric.