

In 2003 I was awarded my PhD in Sociology at Lund University. The research concerned international development and aid, with particular focus on non-government organizations (NGOs), and the concepts of "empowerment" and "participation". I have since done research in development studies (NGOs, primary health care, primary education, poverty alleviation, Water and Sanitation) and in connection with this I have spent extended periods in Bangladesh. Among other things, I have been involved in a six-year project for Sida's behalf with the mandate to evaluate the two national programs for health and primary education (http://www.reality-check-approach.com/bangladesh.html). Since a few years back my research also includes NGOs and civil society organizations in the European context. I have worked as a researcher at the University of Southampton, Third Sector Research Centre (now located at Birmingham University), where focus was on the English context, and since 2012 I am involved in research focusing on the Swedish context.
Teaching
I am course convener of SOPA61 (School of Social Work, term 6) ‘Organization and social work’. I supervise at Master-level. I participate the SOAN42, advanced level, ‘Evaluation and knowledge production in social work’, and contribute to other courses at advanced level with lectures on evaluation and methodological aspects of researching NGOs, NPOs, civil society organizations.
Research
My research interests concern civil society organizations active in social welfare services. My work explores how, or if, such organizations have to compromise their in their business and identity as a result of economic dependence on or closeness to the public welfare sector, privatization and marketization of state welfare services. I also work with evaluation models adapted for non-profit- and value-based organizations which aims to capture generated social value.
I have been involved in "Real Time" a longitudinal research project with the aim to identify and understand changes in civil society organizations over time in English non-profit organizations (www.birmingham.ac.uk/research/tsrc/research/real-times.aspx). Together with colleagues in Lund (Håkan Johansson), Gothenburg (Staffan Johansson) and at Ersta Sköndal (Marie Nordfeldt) I am involved in the project "Between voice and service: the voice of citizens or local contractors?" (funded by VR and FAS). My colleague Stig Linde and I work on a research project exploring aspects of how ‘audit society’ affect non-profit organizations (funded by MUCF (National Agency for Youth and civil society issues) and Crafoord).
Publications
Displaying of publications. Sorted by year, then title.
A European Civil Society Elite? : Analysing Capital and Drama at the European Economic and Social Committee
Anders Uhlin, Malin Arvidson
(2023) European Societies: The Official Journal of the European Sociological Association, 25 p.87-106
Journal articleCapital and Closure in the EU Field : Advancement in the European Economic and Social Committee
Håkan Johansson, Anders Uhlin, Malin Arvidson
(2022) Journal of Common Market Studies, 60 p.1069-1085
Journal articleSträvan efter självständighet : Inre och yttre krav på en idéburen välfärdsaktör
Stig Linde, Malin Arvidson
(2021) Välfärdens aktörer : Utmaningar för människor, professioner och organisationer, 2 p.131-158
Book chapterControl and autonomy: resource dependence relations and non-profit organizations
Malin Arvidson, Stig Linde
(2021) Journal of Organizational Ethnography, 10 p.207-221
Journal articleAnpassning eller autonomi - utvärderingspraktik inom civilsamhällets organisationer
Stig Linde, Malin Arvidson, Roberto Scaramuzzino
(2020) Socialvetenskaplig tidskrift, 27 p.113-136
Journal articleMellan röst och service: Ideella organisationer i lokala välfärdssamhällen
Håkan Johansson, Malin Arvidson, Staffan Johansson, Marie Nordfelt
(2019)
BookAdvocacy Compromised : How Financial, Organizational and Institutional Factors Shape Advocacy Strategies of Civil Society Organizations
Malin Arvidson, Håkan Johansson, Roberto Scaramuzzino
(2018) Voluntas, 29 p.844-856
Journal articleGranskningssamhällets krav och civilsamhällets (re)aktioner. Rapport om resultaten från en enkät, 2016-2017
Stig Linde, Malin Arvidson, Roberto Scaramuzzino
(2018) Research Reports in Social Work
ReportLocal civil society regimes: liberal, corporatist and social democratic civil society regimes in Swedish metropolitan cities
Malin Arvidson, Håkan Johansson, Staffan Johansson, Marie Nordfeldt
(2018) Voluntary Sector Review, 9 p.3-20
Journal articleChange and Tensions in Non-profit Organizations: Beyond the Isomorphism Trajectory
Malin Arvidson
(2018) Voluntas , p.1-13
Journal articleA Swedish culture of advocacy? Civil society organisations’ strategies for political influence
Malin Arvidson, Roberto Scaramuzzino, Håkan Johansson, Anna Meeuwisse
(2018) Sociologisk Forskning, 55 p.341-364
Journal articleOrganizational discretion: identifying boundaries and reasoning in non-profit organizations’ relations with the public sector
Malin Arvidson, Stig Linde
(2017)
Conference - otherFrom external control to moral and political agency: investigating links between externally driven and intrinsically motivated accountability
Malin Arvidson, Stig Linde
(2017)
Conference - otherRedovisning och ansvar - det ålagda och det självpåtagna
Malin Arvidson, Stig Linde
(2017) Socialt arbete i civilsamhället - aktörer, former och funktioner , p.101-121
Book chapterValuing third sector achievements in a service delivery context : Evaluations and social value
Malin Arvidson, Helen Kara
(2016) The Third Sector Delivering Public Services: Developments, Innovations and Challenges , p.149-166
Book chapterWelfare Mix as a Contested Terrain: Political Positions on Government-Non-profit relations at national and local levels in a Social democratic Welfare State
Håkan Johansson, Malin Arvidson, Staffan Johansson
(2015) Voluntas, 26 p.1601-1619
Journal articleThe social return on investment in community befriending
Malin Arvidson, Fraser Battye, David Salisbury
(2014) International Journal of Public Sector Management, 27
Journal articleTo what extent can evaluation frameworks help NGOs to address health inequalities caused by social exclusion?
Helen Kara, Malin Arvidson
(2014) Perspectives in Public Health
Journal articleEthics, intimacy and distance in longitudinal, qualitative research: Experiences from Reality Check Bangladesh
Malin Arvidson
(2014) Research in international development: a critical review
Book chapterPutting evaluations to use: from measuring to endorsing social value
Malin Arvidson, Helen Kara
(2014) Working Paper Series
Working paper‘What’s in it for us?’; Recruiting Third Sector Organisations to a Qualitative Longitudinal Study and maintaining relationships
Rebecca Taylor, Malin Arvidson, Rob Macmillan, Andri Soteri-Proctor, Simon Teasdale
(2014) Research in international development: a critical review
Book chapterHolding back critique? How service and money shape advocacy tactics of CSOs
Håkan Johansson, Roberto Scaramuzzino, Malin Arvidson
(2014)
Conference - otherDoes ideology make a difference for government – nonprofit relationships? : A study of local authorities’ policies and practices in the Swedish welfare state
Håkan Johansson, Malin Arvidson
(2014)
Conference - otherEvidence and transparency in the open public services-reform: perspectives for the third sector
Malin Arvidson
(2014) TSRC Working Paper Series
Working paperValuing the social? The nature and controversies of measuring Social Return on Investment (SROI)
Malin Arvidson, Fergus Lyon, Steven McKay, Dominico Moro
(2013) Voluntary Sector Review, 4 p.3-18
Journal articleEthics, intimacy and distance in longitudinal, qualitative research: Experiences from Reality Check Bangladesh
Malin Arvidson
(2013) Progress in Development Studies, 13
Journal articleSocial Impact Measurement and Non-profit Organisations: Compliance, Resistance, and Promotion.
Malin Arvidson, Fergus Lyon
(2013) Voluntas
Journal articleContradictions and Confusions in Development Work: Exploring the Realities of Bangladeshi NGOs
Malin Arvidson
(2008) Journal of South Asian Development, 3 p.109-134
Journal articleDemanding Values : Participation, empowerment, and NGOs in Bangladesh
Malin Arvidson
(2003) Lund Dissertation in Sociology, 51
Dissertation