Introduction

The term ‘hybridity’ originates from biology and refers to a crossing between different species. The concept, although well developed in various areas, is relatively new in the management field, where ‘organisational hybridity’ basically refers to organisations that combine managerial features, value systems and institutional logics of different sectors (market, state, civil society).

Early studies on hybrid organisations did not consider ‘hybridity’ as an autonomous research area. They were mostly interested in studying differences between public and private organisations (Wamsley & Zald, 1973) by identifying some key parameters (source of funding, ownership and mode of social control). Hybrid organisations were thus a residual category mixing public and private elements (Perry & Rainey, 1988).