An Industry Fields Approach to Isomorphism Involving Australian Nonprofit Organizations.

Structural similarity or isomorphism is expected among organizations in the same organizational field. Such a field matures with increasing interaction among the organizations in it. Using a random sample of Australian organizations, this paper compares isomorphism among nonprofit organizations regardless of industry with that among organizations in the same industry regardless of legal form. The results point to isomorphism especially in the healthcare industry, regardless of legal form. This finding adds weight to earlier research that questioned the operation of the nonprofit sector as an organizational field with enough interaction to produce isomorphism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]