Beneficiaries' participation in nonprofit organizations: a theory-based approach

Abstract

Should the beneficiaries of nonprofit organizations (NPOs) be involved in governance and policy-making and, if so, how? The authors review existing knowledge on the role of beneficiaries in organizational governance and describe an integrative framework based on institutional theory, resource dependence theory, and the academic literature on participatory governance mechanisms in NPOs. They present several hypotheses which can be used as the basis for further research.

Acknowledgements

The article is part of the Strategic Basic Research Programme ‘Effective governance in private organizations’, co-ordinated by Professor A. Jorissen (University of Antwerp) and funded by the IWT, Agency for Innovation by Science and Technology. The authors gratefully acknowledge the helpful comments on earlier versions of this article by Gert Huybrechts, Stijn Van Puyvelde, Jurgen Willems, Michaela Lavender, and the two anonymous referees.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Lore Wellens

Lore Wellens is a doctoral researcher in the Department of Microeconomics of the Profit and Nonprofit Sectors, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium.

Marc Jegers

Marc Jegers is a professor in the Department of Microeconomics of the Profit and Nonprofit Sectors, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium.