Nonprofit Public Libraries and Organizational Performance

Abstract

This study applied a two-stage data envelopment analysis (DEA) model with variable return to scale (VRS) to assess the impact of intermediate outputs on the technical efficiency of nonprofit public libraries (NPLs) in the United States (US) with respect to attaining service and program outcomes. The findings revealed that 46% of the NPLs were technically efficiency with respect to attaining the intermediate outputs at stage one. At stage two, 7% of the libraries were efficient with respect to attaining their service and program outcomes. The findings also revealed that the libraries which were efficient at stage one had an average reciprocal inefficiency score of 0.396 at stage two. By contrast, libraries which are inefficient at stage one had higher efficiency scores at stage two. The DEA analysis also produced estimates in regard to the optimal level of performance the NPLs should attain for each intermediate output to increase the level of technical efficiency at stage two.