Radical changes, ideology, dwindling membership and financial distress: A macro longitudinal study

SummaryIn this longitudinal study we examine how core changes, dwindling membership and ideological embeddedness, lead to financial distress in a unique organizational setting: declining Israeli kibbutzim. We analyze six years of core changes and their effects on financial distress for 102 Israeli kibbutzim. The research is based on an organizational macro-temporal dataset where the same 40 changes were measured concurrently and consecutively in 270 kibbutzim. These changes range from incremental or tectonic, to radical, and cover a range of organizational facets. Results indicate that turnaround measures, including radical transformation of governance and remuneration policies, serve only to exacerbate rather than alleviate financial distress. Stronger ideological embeddedness was also found to aggravate financial distress.