Values and the Legitimacy of Third Sector Service Delivery Organizations: Evidence from Australia

The values espoused by third sector service delivery organizations form the basis of normative claims of legitimacy. Such claims are subject to on-going debate with critics arguing that third sector service delivery organizations do not truly represent the views of those they are trying to assist or that they often fail to institutionalize their values in their relationships with service users. Using instrumental case studies of six social welfare programs in three cities in Australia, this article explores questions of legitimacy by examining whether organizational values were the same as those of service users and whether this matters in terms of services having a positive impact on service users. While research findings generally support normative claims of legitimacy, instrumental values were found to be more important than underlying ethical values or outcome values in generating positive outcomes for service users. However it is these instrumental values that are most at risk from overly prescriptive funding mechanisms.