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Resource Dependence and Effects of Funding Diversification Strategies Among NGOs in Cambodia

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Abstract

This article assesses how strategies applied by Cambodian NGOs to reduce their dependence on external resources affect the sustainability of their mission, program and funding. At the empirical level, the findings suggest that NGO dependence on foreign aid has mixed effects on the organizations such as unpredictability of funding, goal displacement, reduced organizational autonomy, and top-down accountability. Funding from commercial activities is more predictable and potentially promotes bottom-up accountability and increases organizational autonomy but may conflict with the mission-drift of NGOs. At the theoretical level, this article contributes to resource dependence theory by introducing a perspective from develo** countries, which implies large power differentials between international funding agencies and receiving local NGOs. The strategic responses employed by local NGO leaders to reduce external resource dependence entail a paradigm shift from external control to local embeddedness and increased autonomy. The findings have important policy implications regarding the regulation of NGO-related and unrelated business activities.

Résumé

Cet article évalue comment les stratégies mises en œuvre par les ONG cambodgiennes pour réduire leur dépendance aux ressources externes influent sur la pérennité de leur mission, de leur programme et de leur financement. D’un point de vue empirique, nos résultats suggèrent que la dépendance à l’aide étrangère des ONG a divers effets sur ces organisations, comme l’imprévisibilité du financement, la dérive des objectifs, la diminution de l’autonomie organisationnelle et l’apparition d’un système de responsabilité descendante. Le financement par l’activité commerciale est plus prévisible, promeut potentiellement un système de responsabilité ascendante et accroît l’autonomie organisationnelle, mais peut éloigner les ONG de leur mission. D’un point de vue théorique, cet article contribue à la théorie de la dépendance aux ressources (TDR) en introduisant la perspective des pays en voie de développement, qui suppose d’importantes différences de pouvoir entre les organismes de financement et les ONG locales bénéficiaires. Les réponses stratégiques employées par les responsables des NGO locales pour réduire leur dépendance aux ressources externes impliquent un changement de paradigme, le contrôle externe devant céder face à son intégration locale et à une autonomie accrue. Ces résultats ont d’importantes conséquences politiques en termes de réglementation des activités commerciales liées ou non aux ONG.

Zusammenfassung

Dieser Beitrag untersucht, wie sich die Strategien nicht-staatlicher Organisationen in Kambodscha zur Verringerung ihrer Abhängigkeit von externen Ressourcen auf die Nachhaltigkeit ihrer Mission, ihres Programms und ihrer Finanzierung auswirken. Auf empirischer Ebene weisen die Ergebnisse darauf hin, dass die Abhängigkeit der nicht-staatlichen Organisationen von ausländischen Hilfeleistungen diverse Auswirkungen auf die Organisationen haben, zum Beispiel die Unberechenbarkeit der Finanzierung, eine Zielverlagerung, eine geringere organisationale Autonomie und eine Rechenschaft nach dem Top-Down-Prinzip. Eine Finanzierung durch wirtschaftliche Aktivitäten ist berechenbarer, fördert möglicherweise eine Rechenschaft nach dem Bottom-Up-Prinzip und erhöht die organisationale Autonomie, kann jedoch im Konflikt mit dem Abdriften der Mission nicht-staatlicher Organisationen stehen. Auf theoretischer Ebene leistet diese Abhandlung einen Beitrag zur Ressourcenabhängigkeitstheorie, indem eine Perspektive der Entwicklungsländer vorgestellt wird, die große Machtunterschiede zwischen den internationalen Förderorganisationen und den lokalen nicht-staatlichen Organisationen als Mittelempfänger impliziert. Die strategischen Antworten der Führungskräfte lokaler nicht-staatlicher Organisationen zur Reduzierung der Abhängigkeit von externen Ressourcen beinhalten einen Paradigmawechsel von der externen Kontrolle zu lokaler Einbindung und erhöhter Autonomie. Die Ergebnisse haben wichtige politische Implikationen für die Regulierung der mit den nicht-staatlichen Organisationen verbundenen und unverbundenen Geschäftstätigkeiten.

Resumen

El presente artículo evalúa cómo las estrategias aplicadas por las ONG camboyanas para reducir su dependencia de los recursos externos afectan la sostenibilidad de su misión, su programa y su financiación. A nivel empírico, las hallazgos sugieren que la dependencia por parte de las ONG de la ayuda extranjera tiene efectos contradictorios en las organizaciones, tales como la impredecibilidad de la financiación, el desplazamiento de la meta, una autonomía organizativa reducida y una rendición de cuentas de arriba a abajo. La financiación de las actividades comerciales es más predecible y fomenta potencialmente la rendición de cuentas de abajo a arriba y aumenta la autonomía organizativa pero puede entrar en conflicto con la desviación de la misión de las ONG. A nivel teórico, el presente artículo contribuye a la teoría de la dependencia de recursos (RDT, del inglés resource dependence theory) mediante la introducción de una perspectiva desde los países en vías de desarrollo, lo que implica grandes diferenciales de poder entre las agencias de financiación extranjeras y las ONG receptoras locales. Las respuestas estratégicas empleadas por los líderes de las ONG locales para reducir la dependencia de recursos externos conlleva un cambio de paradigma desde el control externo al arraigo social y a un incremento de la autonomía. Los hallazgos tienen implicaciones políticas importantes con respecto a la reglamentación de las actividades comerciales relacionadas y no relacionadas con las ONG.

Chinese

本文对以下课题进行评估:柬埔寨非政府组织(NGO)所应用的旨在减轻其对外部资源的依赖性的策略是如何影响其使命、项目与资助的可持续性的。在实证层面上,我们的研究发现非政府组织对外界援助的依赖性对该种组织有多面的影响,比如资助的不可预知性、目标的移转、组织自治度的降低、自上而下的问责等。来自商业活动的资助的可预知性较高,有促进自下而上的问责的潜力,可增**组织自治权,但却与非政府组织的使命漂移(mission-drift)相冲突。从理论层面上看,本文从发展**家角度进行介绍,这意味着国际基金资助机构与作为接收方的地方非政府组织之间的巨大权力差异,从而丰富了资源依赖理论(RDT)。地方非政府机构领导为了降低对外部资源的依赖性而所采取的策略性回应措施,导致了思维模式的转移,即从外部控制向本地嵌入(local embeddedness)和加**自治权转移。对于与非政府机构相关的或不相关的商业活动,本研究的结构均具有重要的政策含义。

Arabic

تقوم هذه المقالة بتقييم كيف أن الإستراتيجيات التي تطبقها المنظمات الغير حكومية (NGOs) الكمبودية لتقليل إعتمادها على الموارد الخارجية تؤثر على إستدامة مهمتهم ٬البرامج و التمويل.على المستوى العملي ، تشير النتائج إلى أن إعتماد المنظمات الغير حكومية (NGO) على المساعدات الخارجية له تأثيرات متفاوتة على المنظمات مثل عدم القدرة على التنبؤ بالتمويل، هدف التهجير ، خفض الحكم الذاتي التنظيمي ، و المساءلة الإدارية من أعلى إلى أسفل. التمويل من الأنشطة التجارية أكثر قابلية للتنبؤ وربما يعززالمساءلة من أسفل إلى أعلى ويزيد الإستقلالية التنظيمية ولكن قد تتعارض مع حركة بعثة المنظمات الغير حكومية (NGO). على المستوى النظري ، تسهم هذه المقالة في نظرية تبعية الموارد (RDT) عن طريق إدخال منظور من البلدان النامية ، مما يعني فروق في السلطة كبير بين وكالات التمويل الدولية و المنظمات الغير حكومية (NGO) المحلية التي تحصل على التمويل. ردود الإستراتيجية التي إستخدمها القادة المحليين للمنظمات الغير حكومية (NGOs) للحد من الإعتماد على الموارد الخارجية ينطوي على نقلة نوعية من السيطرة الخارجية للترسيخ المحلي وزيادة الحكم الذاتي. النتائج تنطوي على تنفيذ سياسات هامة بشأن تنظيم الأنشطة التجارية ذات الصلة و غير ذات صلة بالمنظمات الغير حكومية (NGO).

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Notes

  1. Other strategic responses found in the literature include adoptive strategies (Dieleman and Boddewyn 2012), constraint absorption (e.g., merger, acquisition or long-term contracts) (Casciaro and Piskorski 2005), buffering techniques (e.g., through organizational structuring) (Scott 2003; Thompson 2011), domination strategies to restructure the resource environment, or employing resources other than revenues (network, technology and human resources). However, these strategies were identified in the empirical context of for-profit firms rather than non-for-profit or hybrid not-profit-for-profit organizations as in the case of this article.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of International Business and Asian Studies, Griffith University, Nathan Campus, Building (N16), Room 1.50, 170 Kessels Road, Nathan, Brisbane, QLD, 4111, Australia

    Sothy Khieng & Heidi Dahles

Authors
  1. Sothy Khieng
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  2. Heidi Dahles
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Sothy Khieng.

Additional information

The authors are indebted to Willemijn Verkoren, Mr Sivhuoch Ou and two anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments on earlier versions of this article. This project is funded by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO).

Appendix: List of NGOs that Participated in In-Depth Interviews

Appendix: List of NGOs that Participated in In-Depth Interviews

NGO code

Positions of NGO representatives

Date of interview

NGO1

Executive director

12-Mar-2012

NGO2

Director

23-Apr-2012

NGO3

Program manager

12-Mar-2012

NGO4

Executive director

12-May-2012

NGO5

Director

12-Mar-2012

NGO6

Executive director

9-Apr-2012

NGO7

Program advisor

26-Mar-2012

NGO8

Executive director

26-Apr-2012

NGO9

Executive director

9-Apr-2012

NGO10

Executive director

11-May-2012

NGO11

Executive director

24-Apr-2012

NGO12

Country representative

13-Mar-2012

NGO13

Country director

1-Nov-2011

NGO14

President

20-Mar-2012

NGO15

Executive director

23-Mar-2012

NGO16

Executive director

6-Mar-2012

NGO17

Executive director

25-Apr-2012

NGO18

Executive director

15-Mar-2012

NGO19

Executive director

10-May-2012

NGO20

Director

2-Mar-2012

NGO21

President/Founder

26-Mar-2012

NGO22

Executive director

19-Mar-2012

NGO23

Executive director

24-Apr-2012

NGO24

Founder/Executive director

21-Mar-2012

NGO25

Country representative

25-Feb-2012

NGO26

Advisor

9-Mar-2012

NGO27

Director

10-May-2012

NGO28

Executive director

27-Apr-2012

NGO29

(1) Executive director; (2) Monitoring and Evaluation Officer

26-Apr-2012

NGO30

(1) Office Manager; (2) Accounting officer

29-Mar-2012

NGO31

Director

16-Mar-2012

NGO32

School director

11-May-2012

NGO33

Business director

21-Apr-2012

NGO34

Executive director

30-Mar-2012

NGO35

Executive director

16-Mar-2012

NGO36

Director

5-Mar-2012

NGO37

Director

23-Apr-2012

NGO38

(1) Executive director; (2) Administration officer

2-Mar-2012

NGO39

Business manager

24-Apr-2012

NGO40

Executive director

26-Apr-2012

NGO41

Executive director

27-Apr-2012

NGO42

Executive director

15-Mar-2012

NGO43

Executive director

19-Mar-2012

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Khieng, S., Dahles, H. Resource Dependence and Effects of Funding Diversification Strategies Among NGOs in Cambodia. Voluntas 26, 1412–1437 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11266-014-9485-7

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