Abstract
This paper aims to clarify the formation process of nonprofit organization (NPO) studies in Japan by analyzing the founding purposes and research trends of three representative academic societies. The analysis reveals that although these societies focus on nonprofit organizations, they were established based on distinct perspectives. These findings suggest that nonprofit organization studies in Japan did not develop under a single theoretical framework; rather, they emerged as a field shaped by the intersection of multiple societal concerns against the backdrop of social changes in the late 1990s. By conducting studies of academic societies, this paper sheds light on the formation process of the nonprofit research field in Japan.
