Nonprofit Governance Research: Limitations of the Focus on Boards and Suggestions for New Directions

Cornforth, Chris (2012). Nonprofit Governance Research: Limitations of the Focus on Boards and Suggestions for New Directions. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 41(6) pp. 1117–1136.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0899764011427959

Abstract

This paper examines some of the main limitations of research on the governance of nonprofit organisations. It argues that there are limitations in both the way governance has been conceptualised and the ways in which it has been researched. It suggests that research has focussed too narrowly on the boards of unitary organisations, and ignored both the wider governance system and the more complex multi-level and multi-faceted governance structures that many organisations have evolved. It also argues that the dominant research designs employed have been cross-sectional and positivist in orientation. As a result too little attention has been paid to board processes and change and how they are influenced by contextual and historical factors. Based on this analysis some new directions for nonprofit governance research are briefly mapped out.

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