Conceptualizing Zakat Institutions within the Framework of Hybrid Organizations

Abstract

Historically, zakah institution was only run by the state, which was indeed managed under the state or public logic. On the other hand, we are now in the era of ‘civic society’, where the ‘bureaucratic decline’ emphasized the incapability of the state to be an efficient actor of development (Bawole, Ibrahim, Hossain, & Mensah, 2017; Hirschmann, 1999). The role of non-state actors is increasingly important to be the better development engines.

The fact as mentioned earlier has put these non-state actors of development, including zakah institutions, in a dilemma between two institutional logics: market or commercial logic and public or social logics (Schröer & Jäger, 2015). These institutions must face distinct problems which do not occur in a conventional single-logic organization. They regularly need to deal with the conflict between two logics, financial or social logics.

This study aims to conceptualize a further argument that zakah institutions are hybrid institutions, and therefore, a list of lessons could be explored. Systematic Literature Review (SLR) is being applied for obtaining facts and related cases to this study.

Few recommendations to sustain the zakah institutional growth are found. Regarding its organizational legacy (Furusten & Junker, 2019), a good communication method to the society will result in the sustainable institutional “business” as a form of “promotion”. According to Battilana (2018), setting organizational goals, structuring organizational activities, selecting organizational members, and socializing organizational members might be able to keep the institution in the hybridity track. Further, instead of creating “entrepreneurship for social value creation”, the better concept is “social value for entrepreneurship” (Arogyaswamy, 2017).