The complex and “wicked” nature of many global problems drive many public and nonprofit leaders to partner with other organizations to address the large-scale problems like climate change adaptation, human rights, or humanitarian relief.  In this cross-sector, partnership-based environment, it is critical to understand the dimensions of leadership that are needed for working effectively with other organizations.  We draw from in-depth interviews with 152 NGO leaders to examine the following research questions: 1) what are the characteristics of leadership that are different in collaborations than from conditions where NGOs work on their own? And 2) what are the factors that lead transnational NGOs to partner with other organizations?  

Literature:  Prior literature indicates that leadership and management are different in inter-organizational collaborations, than within internal organizational management.  For example, nonprofit leaders need “collaborative capabilities” to work in nonprofit networks (Johansen and LeRoux 2013), and they need unique skills for partnering with government (Hall and Kennedy 2008) and with other cross-sector partners (Bryson, Crosby, & Stone 2006; Crosby and Bryson, 2005). Yet, there is little empirical research on the actual characteristics of leadership adopted by nonprofit leaders who collaborate with other public and nonprofit organizations – particularly, in international contexts. 

Transnational NGOs offer an important context for investigating cross-sector collaboration as NGOs often fill critical social service roles in low-income countries (Buss and Gardner 2006) and since they are often more trusted than private or public organizations in emerging economies (Firmin et al. 2013).   Transnational NGOs are also an increasingly dominant force in addressing global challenges, by mobilizing resources, stakeholders, and governments around policy issues that span national boundaries.

Methodology:  This study examines data from semi-structured interviews with more than 152 leaders from U.S.-based transnational NGOs.  Interviewees included CEOs, presidents or executive directors (81% of the sample), as well as vice-presidents and staff below the rank of vice-presidents.  The interviewees were selected from 334 US-based international not-for-profits identified through Charity Navigator in 2005, in order to draw from nonprofits that had sufficient financial efficiency and organizational capacity, and that had an established track record of working outside of the U.S.  Interviews were digitally recorded, transcribed, and coded by multiple researchers, with a weighted inter-coder agreement score of .80 across 243 variables. 

Through statistical analysis of variables addressing leadership styles and organizational characteristics, we identify the similarities and differences of leadership styles among NGOs that collaborate with other organizations, and NGOs that do not collaborate.  We also examine a number of organizational characteristics, including financial resources and staffing capacity, to determine the influence of resource dependency on an organization’s propensity to collaborate with others. 

Contribution: Results from this study contribute to an understanding of the reasons that nonprofits seek out partner organizations, by testing theories of resource dependency and institutionalism within a unique population of nonprofits: those working across international boundaries.  Our overall conclusions improve an understanding of the role of international NGOs in addressing global policy problems.