Written by As part of an NSF-funded project, the Transnational NGO Initiative interviewed 152 US-based Transnational NGO (TNGO) Executive Directors / CEOs regarding organizational activities, strategies, goals, challenges, effectiveness, accountability, communication, networks, partnerships, and leadership.
The interview transcripts were coded using computer-aided qualitative data analysis software to produce a quantitative dataset containing several hundred variables. Both the quantiative dataset and the qualitative transcripts are available to scholars interested in international NGOs and the management of large nonprofit organizations.
Accessing the Data
You can find interview protocols, code books, and data downloads on the TNGO Initiative site:
Resources
- White Paper (short)
- White Paper (full)
- Interview Protocols
- Quantitative Data Code Book
- Data Sharing Agreement
Contact Jeb Beagles, Assistant Professor of Public Affairs at Syracuse University, with questions.
Publications Using the Data
Mitchell, George E. 2015. “The Attributes of Effective NGOs and the Leadership Values Associated with a Reputation for Organizational Effectiveness.” Nonprofit Management & Leadership. 26(1), 39-57. DOI: 10.1002/nml.21143.
Mitchell, George E., Rosemary O’Leary, and Catherine Gerard. 2015. “Collaboration and Performance: Perspectives from Public Managers and NGO Leaders.” Public Performance and Management Review. 38(4), 684-716. DOI: 10.1080/15309576.2015.1031015.
Mitchell, George E. 2014. “The Strategic Orientations of US-Based NGOs.” Voluntas. DOI: 10.1007/s11266-014-9507-5.
Mitchell, George E. and Hans Peter Schmitz. 2014. “Principled Instrumentalism: A Theory of Transnational NGO Behaviour. Review of International Studies. 40(3), 487-504. DOI: 10.1017/S0260210513000387.
Mitchell, George E. and Hans Peter Schmitz. 2013. Principled Instrumentalism: A Theory of Transnational NGO Behavior, Review of International Studies.
Mitchell, George E. 2013. Collaborative Propensities Among Transnational NGOs Registered in the United States, American Review of Public Administration.
Bloodgood, Elizabeth A. and Hans Peter Schmitz 2013. The INGO Research Agenda. A Community Approach to Challenges in Method and Theory, Routledge Handbook of International Organization, edited by Bob Reinalda, Routledge, 67-79.
Berlan, David and Tosca Bruno-van Vijfeijken 2013. The Planned Close of an NGO: Evidence for a New Organizational Form? Voluntas 24 (1): 262-275.
Lecy, Jesse D., Ines Mergel, and Hans Peter Schmitz. 2013. Networks in Public Administration. Current Scholarship in Review, Public Management Review (at SSRN).
Schmitz, Hans Peter. 2013. Rebels without a cause? Transnational Diffusion and the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), 1986-2011, Transnational Dynamics of Civil War, edited by Jeffrey T. Checkel, Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 120-148.
Schmitz, Hans Peter, Wagaki Mwangi, and Lothar Rieth 2013. Encouraging Greater Compliance: Local Networks and the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC), The Persistent Power of Human Rights. From Commitment to Compliance, edited by Thomas Risse, Stephen Ropp and Kathryn Sikkink, Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 203-221 (at SSRN).
Mitchell, George E. 2013. “The Construct of Organizational Effectiveness: Perspectives from Leaders of International Nonprofits in the United States.” Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 42(2), 322-343. DOI: 10.1177/0899764011434589.
Mitchell, George E. 2012. Strategic Responses to Resource Dependence Among Transnational NGOs Registered in the United States, Voluntas, doi: 10.1007/s11266-012-9329-2
Schmitz, Hans Peter 2012. A Human Rights-Based Approach (HRBA) in Practice: Evaluating NGO Development Efforts, Polity 44 (4), 523-541.
Schmitz, Hans Peter, Paloma Raggo, and Tosca Bruno-van Vijfeijken 2012. Accountability of Transnational NGOs: Aspirations vs. Practice, Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly 41 (6), 1176-95.
Baur, Dorothea and Hans Peter Schmitz 2012. Corporations and NGOs: When Accountability leads to Co-optation, Journal of Business Ethics, 106 (1), 9-21 (at SSRN).
Lecy, Jesse D., Hans Peter Schmitz and Haley Swedlund 2012. Non-Governmental and Not-for-Profit Organizational Effectiveness: A Modern Synthesis, Voluntas 23 (2), 434-457.
Bruno-van Vijfeijken, Tosca and Hans Peter Schmitz 2011. A Gap between Ambition and Effectiveness, Journal of Civil Society 7 (3), 287-293.
Schmitz, Hans Peter 2011. Transnational NGOs and Human Rights in a post-9/11 World (.pdf), Human Rights in the 21st Century. Continuity and Change since 9/11, edited by Michael Goodhart and Anja Mihr, Houndmills: Palgrave Macmillan, 203-221.
Lecy, Jesse D., George E. Mitchell, and Hans Peter Schmitz 2010. Advocacy organizations, networks, and the firm analogy (.pdf), in Rethinking Advocacy Organizations. A Collective Action Perspective, edited by Aseem Prakash and Mary Kay Gugerty, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Book Chapters
Lecy, Jesse D., George E. Mitchell, and Hans Peter Schmitz. 2010. “Advocacy Organizations, Networks and the Firm Analogy.” In Rethinking Advocacy Organizations: A Collective Action Perspective, ed. M. K. Gugerty and A. Prakash (pp. 229-251). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Case Studies, Policy Briefs, Reports and Reviews
Bruno-van Vijfeijken, T., Lux, S., Neupane, S., and Singh, R. Final Assessment: Amnesty’s Global Transition Program, Maxwell School, Syracuse University, May 2017.
Levine, Carlisle J., Bruno-van Vijfeijken, Tosca and Jayawickrama, Sherine. 2016. Measuring International NGO Agency-Level Results. InterAction. (pp 1-48)
Lux, Steven J. and Bruno-van Vijfeijken, Tosca. 2013: From Alliance to International: The Global Transformation of Save the Children. Teaching Notes. Syracuse: Program for the Advancement of Research on Conflict and Collaboration (PARCC).
Bruno-van Vijfeijken, Tosca and Karen Schuler. 2013: CEO Succession and Transition: Why it pays to be prepared for CEO transitions. Monthly Developments Magazine 31 (7), 53
Schmitz, Hans Peter 2012: review of ‘Borders among Activists: International NGOs in the United States, Britain, and France,’ by Sarah S. Stroup, Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2012, H-Diplo, H-Net Reviews.
Bruno-van Vijfeijken, Tosca, Uwe Gneiting, and Hans Peter Schmitz 2011: How does CCCD Affect Program Effectiveness and Sustainability? A Meta Review of Plan’s Evaluations. Moynihan Institute of Global Affairs.
Democratic Imperatives: Innovations in Rights, Participation, and Economic Citizenship (Michael Goodhart, Archon Fung, Varun Gauri, Siri Gloppen, Louise Haagh, Patrick Heller, Carole Pateman, Enrique Peruzzotti, Anja Rudiger, Hans Peter Schmitz, Guy Standing, Brian Wampler, and Susanna Wing), Washington, DC: American Political Science Association 2011.
Pagé, Christiane 2011: To Challenge or Respect Constraints? The effects of leadership style, in Monday Developments 30, 23-4.
Mitchell, George E. and Hans Peter Schmitz 2010: Navigating Effectiveness, Humanitarian&Development NGOs Domain Blog, The Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations, Harvard University (March 9).
Bruno-van Vijfeijken, Tosca, Uwe Gneiting, Hans Peter Schmitz, and Otto Valle 2010: Rights-Based Approach to Development. Learning from Guatemala, a report commissioned by Plan International, Moynihan Institute of Global Affairs.
Heiberg, Danielle and Tosca Bruno-Van Vijfeijken 2009: Which Measurement Matters?, in Monday Developments 27 (9), 26-7.
Schmitz, Hans Peter and George E. Mitchell 2009: Bracing for Impact, in Monday Developments 27 (4), 20-2.
Gneiting, Uwe, Tosca Bruno-van Vijfeijken, Hans Peter Schmitz, and Ricardo Gomez 2009: Setting Higher Goals: Rights and Development, in: Monday Developments 27 (12), 19-20.