Professional Networks and the Institutionalization of a Single Mind Set

The personal networks and the attitudes toward clients of a unique set of bureaucratic professionals-corporate giving officers-are examined. Motivated by the finding that the corporate support of a nonprofit is a function of a firm's reputation among contributions professionals (Galaskiewicz, 1985), this paper examines the structure of these professionals' networks and tests to see if proximity results in two giving officers recognizing andlor thinking well of the same nonprofits in their community. Data were analyzedfrom a survey of 150 publicly-held business corporations in the Minneapolis-St. Paul metro area. The more proximate two officers were in the network, the more likely they were to evaluate prospective donees in the same way. Professional associations had an indirect effect on how giving officers evaluated nonprofits in that actors who belonged to the same association were more proximate in the contact network. Highly professionalized contributions staff in different firms tended to recognize the same nonprofits in their task environment, independent of their proximity in the network. Finally, job status had an indirect effect on how staff evaluated nonprofits. Under conditions of environmental uncertainty, or when two officers were not members of the same professional association, job status influenced proximity in the network. Thus job status, professional associations, and proximity in the professional network each in its own way had some effect on the knowledge and evaluations of giving officers in our case study.