2016/08/19 by Kelly LeRoux, Julie Langer
Business, Management and Accounting · Social Sciences · #Job Satisfaction and Organizational Behavior #Nonprofit Sector and Volunteering #Religion, Society, and Development
paper · doi:10.1002/nml.21234
openalex publication_date 2016/08/19 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/30
In theory, nonprofit boards of directors exist to perform mission-setting and oversight functions that help to ensure organizational accountability. Yet there is evidence that board behavior often falls short of this ideal. Using survey data from a sample of 241 executive directors of nonprofit agencies, we investigated whether nonprofit boards are meeting executive directors’ expectations, and if not, what factors explain this? We find that although board behavior tends to align closely with executive directors’ preferences for involvement in administration and management tasks, there is a greater disconnect between board behavior and executive directors’ preferences for involvement in mission-setting and oversight duties. Factors that mitigate this gap include organizational professionalization and stability, whereas more extensive reliance on government funding exacerbates it. Female executive directors experience a greater disconnect in their preferences for board involvement and actual board involvement than male executive directors. We conclude by discussing the implications of our findings for both theory and practice.