Exploring the Use of Outcome Measures in Human Service Nonprofits: Combining Agency, Institutional, and Organizational Capacity Perspectives

ABSTRACT

Although nonprofits have invested substantial resources in measuring their outcomes, not all nonprofits make use of their outcome information. This study examines how nonprofits use outcome data and what factors are associated with its use. The study categorizes outcome information in three dimensions—professional/anticipatory use, compliance use, and negotiated use. Based on survey data from human service nonprofits (n = 259), the study investigates how risk aversion, institutional factors, and organizational capacity are related to the three dimensions of outcome information use. The findings indicate that compliance use is influenced by coercive pressure, and that professional/anticipatory use and negotiated use are associated with risk aversion, mimetic isomorphism, and political capacity. The study contributes to knowledge of how performance data are used by nonprofit organizations.

KEYWORDS:

• nonprofits
• outcome measures
• performance evaluation
• performance information

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Chongmyoung Lee

Chongmyoung Lee, PhD, is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at California State University—Los Angeles. His research interests include public and nonprofit management, inter-organizational collaboration, and performance measurement. His recent works have appeared in American Journal of Evaluation and Journal of Health & Human Services Administration.

Richard M. Clerkin

Richard M. Clerkin, PhD, is Executive Director of the Institute for Nonprofits and Associate Professor in the Department of Public Administration at North Carolina State University. His research interests focus broadly on the nonprofit sector. In particular, he studies motivations for public service and public benefiting activities. He is a coauthor of the leading public administration textbook, Public Administration: Understanding Management, Politics, and Law in the Public Sector, and his research has been published in journals such as Public Administration Review, American Review of Public Administration, Armed Forces & Society, Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, and Nonprofit Management and Leadership.