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Research Handbook on Nonprofit Governance
This multi-perspective Research Handbook provides a clear pathway through the nonprofit governance research field, pushing beyond the borders of current theory to expand and deepen the analytical framework for nonprofit governance. It offers an analysis of the basics including definitions, organizational forms and levels of governance, and takes a critical approach towards the normative and prescriptive tendencies in much of contemporary governance scholarship.
More Information
Critical Acclaim
Contributors
Contents
More Information
This multi-perspective Research Handbook provides a clear pathway through the nonprofit governance research field, pushing beyond the borders of current theory to expand and deepen the analytical framework for nonprofit governance. It offers an analysis of the basics including definitions, organizational forms and levels of governance, and takes a critical approach towards the normative and prescriptive tendencies in much of contemporary governance scholarship.
Divided into four distinctly thematic parts, contributors provide an in-depth review of the last 20 years, building on the foundations of classical contributions and further exploring new theoretical approaches, while examining the governance challenges of diverse types of organizations, including those from both developed and developing countries. Future challenges including multilevel governance are expertly addressed, and insights leading towards a unified theory are proposed.
This thoroughly engaging Research Handbook will be an excellent resource for scholars in business and strategic management, nonprofit management and civil society, interested in topics such as nonprofit governance practice and boards of directors, governance theory, stakeholder management, membership organizations, foundations and hybrid organizations. Teachers of nonprofit management will also find this invaluable as it addresses both the core concepts and the most recent developments.
Divided into four distinctly thematic parts, contributors provide an in-depth review of the last 20 years, building on the foundations of classical contributions and further exploring new theoretical approaches, while examining the governance challenges of diverse types of organizations, including those from both developed and developing countries. Future challenges including multilevel governance are expertly addressed, and insights leading towards a unified theory are proposed.
This thoroughly engaging Research Handbook will be an excellent resource for scholars in business and strategic management, nonprofit management and civil society, interested in topics such as nonprofit governance practice and boards of directors, governance theory, stakeholder management, membership organizations, foundations and hybrid organizations. Teachers of nonprofit management will also find this invaluable as it addresses both the core concepts and the most recent developments.
Critical Acclaim
‘The Research Handbook examines nonprofit governance at multiple levels from the organisational to the societal, using a wide variety of theoretical perspectives. It contains chapters by many of the leading researchers in the field. It is stimulating and thought provoking. A must read for anyone interested in nonprofit governance.’
– Chris Cornforth, The Open University, UK
‘This book is poised to make significant contributions to future research on nonprofit governance as well as governance more broadly. Its chapters insist that readers understand nonprofit governance within contextualized settings and explore evolving conceptions of “nonprofit” entities, sectors, governing functions, processes, and structures. While research has already expanded beyond the governing board, this volume crackles with opportunities for researchers to investigate nonprofit governance at multiple levels of analysis from numerous theoretical and disciplinary perspectives. Importantly, contributors reflect an international diversity of outlooks that enrich knowledge and invite further interrogation.’
– Melissa Stone, Professor Emerita, University of Minnesota, US
‘This state of the art volume offers a variety of illuminating approaches to the fundamental problem of governance, providing fresh frameworks to questions of voice and control. Dennis Young’s stellar concluding essay is, by itself, worth the price of admission!’
– Walter W. Powell, Stanford University, US
– Chris Cornforth, The Open University, UK
‘This book is poised to make significant contributions to future research on nonprofit governance as well as governance more broadly. Its chapters insist that readers understand nonprofit governance within contextualized settings and explore evolving conceptions of “nonprofit” entities, sectors, governing functions, processes, and structures. While research has already expanded beyond the governing board, this volume crackles with opportunities for researchers to investigate nonprofit governance at multiple levels of analysis from numerous theoretical and disciplinary perspectives. Importantly, contributors reflect an international diversity of outlooks that enrich knowledge and invite further interrogation.’
– Melissa Stone, Professor Emerita, University of Minnesota, US
‘This state of the art volume offers a variety of illuminating approaches to the fundamental problem of governance, providing fresh frameworks to questions of voice and control. Dennis Young’s stellar concluding essay is, by itself, worth the price of admission!’
– Walter W. Powell, Stanford University, US
Contributors
Contributors: Fredrik O. Andersson, Helmut K. Anheier, Wolfgang Bielefeld, Patricia Bromley, Gemma Donnelly-Cox, Angela M. Eikenberry, Torbjörn Einarsson, Philippe Eynaud, Josef Fahlén, Markus A. Höllerer, Johan Hvenmark, Urs Jäger, Dennis Jancsary, Marc Jegers, Jean-Louis Laville, Stephanie A. Maas, Florentine Maier, Johanna Mair, Michael Meyer, Renate E. Meyer, Damien Mourey, David O. Renz, Michael J. Roy, Carlo Ruzza, Eivind Å. Skille, Steven Rathgeb Smith, Cecilia Stenling, Anna-Maria Strittmatter, Simon Teasdale, José Pablo Valverde, Stefan Toepler, Georg von Schnurbein, Filip Wijkström, Jurgen Willems, Miriam Wolf, Dennis R. Young, Annette Zimmer
Contents
Contents:
Preface xviii
List of abbreviations xxii
1 Deepening and broadening the field: introduction to Research
Handbook on Nonprofit Governance 1
Gemma Donnelly-Cox, Michael Meyer and Filip Wijkström
PART I FUNDAMENTALS OF NONPROFIT GOVERNANCE
2 Normative understandings of nonprofit governance: everyday
discourses and research perspectives 27
Florentine Maier and Michael Meyer
3 Accountability and transparency: cornerstones of civil society
governance 46
Jurgen Willems
4 Nonprofit governance and external environments 71
Wolfgang Bielefeld and Fredrik O. Andersson
5 Who owns your nonprofit? A reconceptualization of nonprofit
ownership 98
Stephanie A. Koolen-Maas
6 Regulatory governance of nonprofit organizations: legal
frameworks and voluntary self-regulation 116
Stefan Toepler and Helmut K. Anheier
PART II THEORETICAL FRAMEWORKS
7 Neoinstitutional theory and nonprofit governance research 141
Renate E. Meyer, Dennis Jancsary and Markus A. Höllerer
8 Actorhood as governance in neoliberal world culture 165
Patricia Bromley
9 Agents and stewards in nonprofit governance 186
Marc Jegers
10 Who really governs? Nonprofit governance, stakeholder
theory and the dominant coalition perspective 196
Fredrik O. Andersson and David O. Renz
11 How nonprofit governance studies can be enriched by the
commons framework: towards a cross-fertilization agenda of research 220
Philippe Eynaud and Jean-Louis Laville
PART III GOVERNANCE FOR SPECIFIC TYPES OF
NONPROFIT ORGANIZATIONS
12 The governance of foundations 236
Georg von Schnurbein
13 Democratic governance in membership-based organizations 258
Johan Hvenmark and Torbjörn Einarsson
14 Gate-keeping nonprofit governance: evaluative criteria and
their rankings in nomination committee selection processes 279
Cecilia Stenling, Josef Fahlén, Anna-Maria Strittmatter and Eivind
Å. Skille
15 International nongovernmental organization governance:
brokering between developed countries and the developing world 294
Urs Jäger and José Pablo Valverde
16 Hybrid organizations as sites for reimagining organizational
governance 311
Johanna Mair and Miriam Wolf
PART IV FUTURE CHALLENGES
17 Nonprofit organizations in public governance 327
Annette Zimmer and Steven Rathgeb Smith
18 Multilevel governance and the role of civil society
organizations in the European Union system 352
Carlo Ruzza
19 The marketization of the third sector? Trends, impacts and
implications 371
Michael J. Roy, Angela M. Eikenberry and Simon Teasdale
20 Twists and turns of the practice of accountability in the
nonprofit sector: the thin line between accountancy and
organizational learning 391
Damien Mourey
21 Towards a unified theory of nonprofit governance 409
Dennis R. Young
Index
Preface xviii
List of abbreviations xxii
1 Deepening and broadening the field: introduction to Research
Handbook on Nonprofit Governance 1
Gemma Donnelly-Cox, Michael Meyer and Filip Wijkström
PART I FUNDAMENTALS OF NONPROFIT GOVERNANCE
2 Normative understandings of nonprofit governance: everyday
discourses and research perspectives 27
Florentine Maier and Michael Meyer
3 Accountability and transparency: cornerstones of civil society
governance 46
Jurgen Willems
4 Nonprofit governance and external environments 71
Wolfgang Bielefeld and Fredrik O. Andersson
5 Who owns your nonprofit? A reconceptualization of nonprofit
ownership 98
Stephanie A. Koolen-Maas
6 Regulatory governance of nonprofit organizations: legal
frameworks and voluntary self-regulation 116
Stefan Toepler and Helmut K. Anheier
PART II THEORETICAL FRAMEWORKS
7 Neoinstitutional theory and nonprofit governance research 141
Renate E. Meyer, Dennis Jancsary and Markus A. Höllerer
8 Actorhood as governance in neoliberal world culture 165
Patricia Bromley
9 Agents and stewards in nonprofit governance 186
Marc Jegers
10 Who really governs? Nonprofit governance, stakeholder
theory and the dominant coalition perspective 196
Fredrik O. Andersson and David O. Renz
11 How nonprofit governance studies can be enriched by the
commons framework: towards a cross-fertilization agenda of research 220
Philippe Eynaud and Jean-Louis Laville
PART III GOVERNANCE FOR SPECIFIC TYPES OF
NONPROFIT ORGANIZATIONS
12 The governance of foundations 236
Georg von Schnurbein
13 Democratic governance in membership-based organizations 258
Johan Hvenmark and Torbjörn Einarsson
14 Gate-keeping nonprofit governance: evaluative criteria and
their rankings in nomination committee selection processes 279
Cecilia Stenling, Josef Fahlén, Anna-Maria Strittmatter and Eivind
Å. Skille
15 International nongovernmental organization governance:
brokering between developed countries and the developing world 294
Urs Jäger and José Pablo Valverde
16 Hybrid organizations as sites for reimagining organizational
governance 311
Johanna Mair and Miriam Wolf
PART IV FUTURE CHALLENGES
17 Nonprofit organizations in public governance 327
Annette Zimmer and Steven Rathgeb Smith
18 Multilevel governance and the role of civil society
organizations in the European Union system 352
Carlo Ruzza
19 The marketization of the third sector? Trends, impacts and
implications 371
Michael J. Roy, Angela M. Eikenberry and Simon Teasdale
20 Twists and turns of the practice of accountability in the
nonprofit sector: the thin line between accountancy and
organizational learning 391
Damien Mourey
21 Towards a unified theory of nonprofit governance 409
Dennis R. Young
Index
