Interorganization Contagion in Corporate Philanthropy

Abstract

Funding for this research was provided to Professor Galaskiewicz by the Program for Nonprofit Organizations at Yale University and the National Science Foundation (SES-8008570) and to Professor Burt by Columbia University's Faculty Development Program, the National Science Foundation (SES-8208203), and consulting revenues to the Research Program in Structural Analysis. The discussion has been improved in response to comments from Roberto Fernandez, Mark Mizruchi, Gerald Salancik, Thomas Schqtt, and the ASO referees. Two network contagion models are used to describe corporate contributions officers' evaluations of nonprofit organizations seeking philanthropic donations. Contagion by cohesion predicts that behavioral communication between contributions officers results in their sharing the same evaluation. Contagion by structural equivalence predicts that symbolic communication via role playing between officers similarly positioned in the interorganization network of contributions officers results in similar evaluations. We find strong evidence of contagion, robust over differences in the evaluated nonprofit organizations and differences between officers. The evidence is overwhelmingly of contagion by structural equivalence.'