KHALDOUN ABOUASSI
Human. Scholar. Educator.
I am a public and nonprofit management scholar.
This scholarly identity is shaped by my own professional experience working for both the public and nonprofit sectors in Lebanon. I believe that the fundamental questions regarding the “nuts and bolts” of management are not limited to any specific context, but rather are fundamental and similar across organizations and contexts and shaped at the margins by local political, economic, and social realities. The challenges in today’s globalized world—such as migration, climate change, and poverty—transcend sectors and boundaries and require effective governance and management strategies.
RESEARCH FOCUS
ORGANIZATIONAL MANAGEMENT
This work is timely and important given the increased pressure on public and nonprofit organizations to demonstrate relevance, responsiveness, and accountability. I examine how management impacts organizational behavior. I move beyond resource acquisition and mobilization employ multiple theories to empirically test or advance the conceptual arguments related to organizational level variables that help unravel the complexities of management practices vis-à-vis organizational capacity.
ORGANIZATIONAL RESOURCES
This research is relevant and critical for both nonprofit and public organizations, given the ever-increasing pace of change in resource environments, and mounting demands of stakeholders, such as donors and clients. I examine how organizations secure, maintain, and use human and financial resources and their effect on organizational capacity. I analyze: (a) the nature of resource needs, (b) variations in the use of resources across organizations and sectors, and (c) the implications of resource management decisions on organizational capacity.
INTER-ORGANIZATIONAL RELATIONS
The public management literature highlights the dynamics of an increasingly blurred sectoral boundaries and their impact on organizational performance, capacity, and management. I examine inter-organizational relations, incorporating variables from the institutional environments. I analyze the formation, development, and governance of inter-organizational relations, and how they are situated in the broader context of service delivery, policy outcomes, and democratic governance.
CURRENT PROJECTS
LOCAL GOVERNMENT-NGOS RELATIONS IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
The project explores relations between local governments and NGOs in Lebanon.
The project relies on original data from two national surveys conducted in 2017 targeting Lebanese local governments and NGOs (and a second wave targeting NGOs in 2019).
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American University
4400 Massachusetts Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20016-8070
(202) 885-2509