Interorganizational competition is understudied in nonprofit network research. Yet in a declining resource environment, competition for resources is likely to be active in a service delivery network. This study examines nonprofit collaboration and competition in a homeless service delivery network. While interorganizational networks can help strengthen community partnerships and improve homeless service delivery, not all collaborations can produce intended outcomes. This research addresses two research questions: What impact does competition for resources have on interorganizational collaboration in homeless service delivery? Can professional friendship among organization leadership help strengthen the collaborative ties and moderate the negative impact of competition on collaborative outcomes?  

Most of existing literature on interorganizational networks focuses on the collaborative relationships between organizations. Competition exists between organizations, especially when organization seek funding from the same sources or provide the same type of services. On one hand, providing the same type of service may create more opportunities for organizations to interact with each other; on the other hand service overlap or funding overlap may create more competition among organizations (Arya & Lin, 2007). Shared vision and positive collaboration experience help improve organizational relationships, and a shared vision also encourages organizational learning (Chen & Graddy, 2010). Friendship ties among managers can have positive impact on collaboration between organizations (Ingram & Roberts, 2000). In a study of human service delivery networks, Bunger (2012) found that perceived trustworthiness can moderate the negative impact of competition on interorganizational collaborations. Building on previous studies, we developed three hypotheses:

H₁: Perceived direct competition for resources is negatively associated with interorganizational collaboration.

H₂: Professional friendship between organization leadership positively correlates with interorganizational collaboration.  

H₃: Professional friendship between organization leadership moderates the negative influence of competition on collaboration. 

This research has a focus on the interorganizational collaboration in providing housing services to the homeless population in Orange County, Seminole County, and Osceola County in the State of Florida. These three counties were selected as the study sites as these three counties were designated as one major service area for the Continuum of Care Supportive Housing Program funded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). We surveyed 34 organizations and received responses from 27 organizations, which results in a response rate of 84.3%. Descriptive network measures such as degree centrality and eigenvector centrality, network centralization and density are used to understand the position and power of individual organizations within networks and the network characteristics. Furthermore, Multiple Regression with Quadratic assignment procedure (MRQAP) (Krackhardt, 1987; Robins, 2011) are conducted to understand the impact of competition and professional friendship ties on collaboration.

This research examines both the collaborative and competitive sides of the interorganizational interactions in homeless service delivery. Furthermore, choosing an understudied research lens, it examines how professional friendship may help strengthen the collaborative relationships and mitigate the negative impact of competition on collaborative outcomes.