Internal Competition and Cooperation at Art Museums: A Qualitative Exploration

Internal competition and internal cooperation and/or collaboration are constructs that are defined most often in managerial literature. The two constructs are generally seen as having a poor influence on outcomes in the case of internal competition and more positive outcomes in the case of cooperation/collaboration. However, outcomes in the nonprofit world are not so easily defined as in for-profit businesses. Further, the concepts on internal competition and internal cooperation are not well understood in the nonprofit arena. This research explores the concepts using qualitative in-depth interviews from a variety of U.S. non-profit art museums in order to begin the development of a better understanding of how the presence, intensity and nature of internal competition and internal cooperation manifest themselves.