Understanding the size and spread of Chinese NGO networks: capacity and board affiliations

Abstract

In recent years, the amount of research on digital inter-organizational networks among Chinese non-governmental organizations (NGOs) has increased greatly. However, few studies have examined the offline networks of Chinese NGOs. To fill this gap, the present study investigates the size and spread of offline Chinese NGO networks. In particular, we examine two competing hypotheses: the influence of organizational capacity and the influence of board affiliations as guanxi on the size and spread of the ego-centric networks of NGOs. To test our hypotheses, we conducted surveys among 119 Chinese NGOs. The results of the ordinary least squares regression supported our guanxi hypothesis: the number of organizational affiliations that the members of a board of directors have was positively related to the size of Chinese NGO networks, controlling for geographic region, social issue area, age, and revenue of the NGOs. In addition, as guanxi, board affiliations influenced the spread of NGO networks via the size of NGO networks. This study contributes to the research on Chinese inter-organizational communication networks in general and to Chinese NGO offline networks, NGO capacity, and guanxi culture in particular.

Keywords:

• non-governmental organization (NGO)
• network
• capacity
• interlocking board
• guanxi

Notes

1. We did not include the procedure that we used to conduct the structural equation modeling or the results of the factor analysis because it was beyond the scope of this study. The items were developed in the US context (8-factor, 49-item) and refined for application to Chinese NGOs. In order to assess the degree to which the instrument was applied across languages and cultures, we conducted a factorial invariance analysis, which is a form of confirmatory factor analysis that is used to compare solutions across two groups. The results, which are available upon request from the authors, confirmed that US NGOs and Chinese NGOs show significant structural variances and that the original solution fits US NGOs better than it fits Chinese NGOs. Next, we used confirmatory factor analysis to determine the sources of structural differences in the US NGO capacity instrument and the Chinese NGO capacity instrument. Based on the fit criterion (RMSEA < 0.10), 18 items were further removed from the instrument used to analyze Chinese NGOs. The removal of these items resulted in removing one of the eight factors that was part of the US NGO solution. The seven factors did not converge onto one second-order factor, indicating that Chinese NGO capacity is a multidimensional concept instead of a single measure. The results and goodness of fit statistics are available upon request.

2. We included operational capacity and strategic planning capacity in our additional analysis. The results are available upon request. Additional descriptive information about operational capacity and strategic planning is also available upon request.