Institutional Isomorphism and Knowledge Management in Nonprofits: Evidence From India

ABSTRACT Do organizational characteristics that formally differentiate nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), including legal form, size, and mission scope, also translate into meaningful differences in their management practices? Institutional theory suggests that they may not. This study examines institutional isomorphism in nonprofits through the lens of knowledge management (KM), using survey data from 249 Indian NGOs of various types, sizes, and operational focuses, collected via the Knowledge Management Assessment Tool (KMAT). Drawing on institutional theory, we hypothesize that isomorphic pressures—coercive (donor requirements), normative (professionalization), and mimetic (peer imitation)—homogenize KM practices across formal organizational boundaries, whereas mission complexity may create operational differentiation. Our findings support the convergence prediction and provide evidence consistent with the role of mission complexity: (1) no statistically significant differences in KM practices are observed by legal form or organizational size; (2) multifocused NGOs score higher across all five KM dimensions, but no dimension level contrast remains statistically significant after false discovery rate (FDR) adjustment; and (3) KM practices across all sample NGOs remain at a moderate level, rather than the desired good or excellent benchmarks. These results suggest that formal organizational classifications are weak predictors of KM practice and that mission characteristics warrant further attention in third sector research and capacity‐building interventions.