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Do Professionals Take Over? Professionalisation and Membership Influence in Civil Society Organisations.


ABSTRACT: While many scholars have postulated the decline of membership influence as an important consequence of the professionalisation of civil society organisations (CSOs), other analysts have argued that traditional membership-driven CSOs are resilient and that hiring professionals does not necessarily diminish membership influence. This study sheds light on this issue by analysing membership influence in a representative sample of approximately 2000 CSOs from  five European countries and the European level. As members generally have a strong influence on CSOs' policy positions, our analysis demonstrates that the pessimistic tone in much contemporary scholarly work is largely unwarranted. On the contrary, hiring professionals does not invariably decrease membership influence and can, when members are closely engaged in advocacy work, even facilitate it.

SUBMITTER: Heylen F 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7679303 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Do Professionals Take Over? Professionalisation and Membership Influence in Civil Society Organisations.

Heylen Frederik F   Willems Evelien E   Beyers Jan J  

Voluntas : international journal of voluntary and nonprofit organizations 20200324 6


While many scholars have postulated the decline of membership influence as an important consequence of the professionalisation of civil society organisations (CSOs), other analysts have argued that traditional membership-driven CSOs are resilient and that hiring professionals does not necessarily diminish membership influence. This study sheds light on this issue by analysing membership influence in a representative sample of approximately 2000 CSOs from  five European countries and the European  ...[more]

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