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Abstract
Previous sociological research developed the population ecology model to examine the relationship of the population to organizational structure and behavior in a region. While the model had been successfully applied to the study of voluntary associations, other types of organizations had been largely neglected. For this study, a national sample of 446 blindness rehabilitation agencies in 22 states were selected to determine whether the population ecology model applied to other types of organizational structures. States were ranked from high to low levels of environmental competition defined as the ratio of the number of legally blind persons to the number of blindness rehabilitation agencies per state. The subsamples consisted of 8 low and 14 high competition states. A mail survey produced 135 completed questionnaires. Multiple regression analysis examined the relationship between environmental competition and organizational structure and behavior. Contrary to expectations, environmental competition did not change the basic structure of organizations or their ability to mobilize scarce resources. Agencies also did not differ in structural responses to fiscal constraint. However, client outcomes were effected by environmental competition, personnel constraint, and organizational structure. Since agencies have less control over funding and other related scarce resources, clientele appeared to be the manipulable resource which could be referred or retained to meet organizational needs. The population ecology model did not explain the behavior and structure of blindness rehabilitation agencies because the potential clientele do not have control over the selection of the agency or the rehabilitation process itself.
