Cultural percolation: business-like mentality appears into the Third Sector like institution

Abstract

In this article the concept of cultural percolation is used to describe and study the introduction of values of for-profit organizations in the Third Sector. We propose a theoretical frame that includes theories on organizacional culture, the relational theory of society and the new institutionalism. This article specifies several hypotheses and the methodology to verify them, and presents the results of the research carried out at three levels: First, at macro level, the cultural percolation is observed in two types of organizational behavior; second, at micro level, ideological factors which obstruct the cultural percolation are described; and third, at meso level, the cultural percolation are influenced by material factors. The analysis is based on secundary data of 87 Developmental Non Governmental Organizations and primary analysis of data from 28 semiestructurated intervews and a survey to the personnel of 24 organziations.