Multiple Constituencies and the Social Construction of Nonprofit Organization Effectiveness

Abstract

Based on the social constructionism perspective and a multiple constituency model, this study investigates stakeholder judgments of nonprofit charitable organization effectiveness. ThestudyalsousesaDelphiprocesstoidentifycriteriathatsomepractitionerw-experts regard as objective indicators of effectiveness. Data on various stakeholder judgments of organizational effectiveness and on the objective indicators were collected for a sample of 64 organizations, allowing for examination of the extent to which stakeholder judgments are consistent and for examination of the extent to which judgments are related to objective indicators. Among the major results of the study are that practitioner-experts define objective effectiveness as employing correct procedures; stakeholders frequently vary substantially in their judgments of the effectiveness of the same organization; stakeholder judgments of effectiveness seldom are related to objective (correct procedures) effectiveness; and differenttypesofstakeholdersusesomeofthesame-mostnotably,boardeffectiveness-as well as different bases for making effectiveness judgments. Conclusions and implications are discussed.

Stakeholder-Oriented Principal Development in Croatian Elementary Schools

“…Robbins & Coulter, 2007:492). In addition, success in orientation to external constituencies is linked to the capacity-building in the fields of school marketing and management, which seems to be a critical factor of balanced stakeholder relationships, which, according to our model, should lead to the enhanced school performance, as defined by the classical studies in nonprofit sector (Herman & Renz, 1997, 1999 …”

“…However, this paper is limited to the »managerial« definition of performance, as socially constructed by the stakeholders (cf. Herman & Renz, 1997, 1999. We recognize this is a limitation to this study and a relevant subject for future research.…”

“…Each of the relevant stakeholders/ constituencies has their own notion and a set of measures for assessing the organization and accomplishment of its mission, with the overall effectiveness being more of a social construction, than an objective reality (Herman & Renz, 1997). However, some »hard« theses on the process of such construction have been identified by Herman & Renz (1999): performance of any nonprofit organization is a socially constructed, relative and multidimensional construct, transcending the outcomes of single actions/projects/programs, although »correct« governance and management techniques seem to contribute significantly to its improvement.…”

Managing stakeholder relationships and nonprofit organization effectiveness

“…Although the ambiguity of the public good yields discretion to nonprofits, nonprofits encounter multiple stakeholders with expectations of the organization, and according to the multiple constituency model of effectiveness (Zammuto, 1984), they assess NPO effectiveness according to whether their particular expectations are satisfied (Herman and Renz, 1997). In other words, effectiveness is based on the responsiveness of the nonprofit to stakeholder concerns (which could reduce NPO discretion).…”

Policy Brief: The Case for Using Robust Measures to Evaluate Nonprofit Organizations

“…However, nonprofit organizations struggle to evaluate their outcomes (Herman and Renz 1997); more recently, researchers have singled out social service organizations for their difficulties in measuring performance (Carnochan, Samples, Myers and Austin 2014).…”