Institutional Logics and Accountability: Advancing an Integrated Framework in Nonprofit–Public Partnerships

Abstract

Public and nonprofit management literature has focused more on formal accountability and less on emerging informal structures that are present in the pilot stages of partnerships. This study uses a phenomenological approach to examine the institutional logics of partner organizations and offers an integrated framework for how these logics may translate into accountability structures in a nonprofit—public partnership (NPPP). This framework advances a basis for the mechanisms present when an individual organization’s or agency’s institutional logics must be reconciled in the context of accountability. The analysis points to emerging challenges and cross pressures within the NPPP that are driving a need for comprehensive evaluation measures, established processes for business planning, and written agreements such as memorandums of understanding to provide clear definitions of partnership roles. Public managers designing or joining pilot partnerships need to be aware that mismatched institutional logics and perceptions of accountability can occur, and these dynamics may lead to a variety of hybrid measures to ensure future sustainability of interorganizational relationships.