The motivators and the motivated: what mechanisms do nonprofit organizations use to spur engagement, and do they work? An exploratory case study.

Abstract

The political engagement of citizens with their democratic government is fraught with difficulties of inertia, cynicism, lack of knowledge, access and efficacy. This research attempts to address questions of how people occupying a lower socio-economic status (SES) classification might improve their engagement. The research question is, "The motivators and the motivated: what mechanisms do non-profit organizations use to motivate individuals to become politically engaged, and, do they work?" Through a qualitative exploratory case study of five human social-serving nonprofit agencies, and capitalizing on the scholarship of other political scientists, five criteria predictive of outcomes for engagement efforts by agency staff attempting to assist their clients to express their voice in their own governance is presented. The findings demonstrate that effective recruitment or encouragement of clients, coupled with the provision of education and skills, the use of "bridging" social capital, capitalization on client's rational particularistic self-interest and the presence of an effective agency leader or internal organizational entrepreneur may combine to produce engagement on the part of clients within lower SES classifications. Additionally, the strengths of the exploratory case study method resulted in at least six potential future research questions. As with any research, there are study limitations, and this is no exception. However, some useful broad policy recommendations are also provided.