Explaining Voluntary Sector Behaviour: An Empirical Test Using NSW Non-Profit Social Service Provider Data

Abstract

Non-profit organisations represent an important institutional avenue for delivering social services in contemporary Australia. Moreover, a voluminous theoretical literature exists on the voluntary sector in advanced countries. However, relatively little effort has thus far been expended on the empirical assessment of the main models of non-profit organisational behaviour. Using 2003 survey data drawn from selected NSW non-profit social service providers, this paper seeks to replicate Lester Salamon's (1992) seminal American empirical investigation of stylised versions of demand-side theories, supply-side theories, organisational theories, and Salamon's (1987) own model of voluntary sector failure. In common with Salamon's (1992) earlier findings, our results suggest that the theory of voluntary sector failure possesses the greatest explanatory power of the four main models under investigation.