Transparency as a Key Element in Accountability in Non-Profit Organizations: A Systematic Literature Review

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to present a framework to understand transparency in the third sector and then to explore the main research streams regarding the disclosure of information and accountability by conducting a systematic literature review on the antecedents and dimensions of the transparency of information disclosed by non-profit organizations (NPOs). The essential questions of this work are addressed from an international perspective. In particular, we explore three research questions: (1) why should NPOs disclose transparent information to stakeholders? (2) Why do not all NPOs disclose transparent information? (3) What means do NPOs use to disclose transparent information? Our results highlight the lack of transparency legislation in the third sector, leading NPOs to adopt the voluntary disclosure of information policies to improve the perceived credibility of these entities by their stakeholders. In conclusion, our study highlights the importance of developing a systematic body of knowledge regarding the situation of transparent, voluntary information disclosure in the sector. Moreover, the Sustainable Development Goals promulgated by the United Nations place a high value on transparency for the accountability of institutions. To achieve sustainable development, both peace and the governance of institutions are needed. Reducing corruption and promoting transparency are among the goals which should be reached to achieve social sustainability.

National patient groups in Canada and their disclosure of relationships with pharmaceutical companies: a cross-sectional study

“…Internationally, websites are the most common means of information disclosure in non-profit organisations, but they are recognised as inadequate to meet the standards of accountability the sector requires. 8 Other than the law governing charitable organisations based in Canada, which makes few requirements for public reporting of corporate donations and specifically does not require organisations to declare the names of individual donors or the amount of the donations, patient groups are not answerable to any national regulatory or governing body. It is left to the groups themselves to decide what information they will reveal on their websites about corporate donations and whether they develop policies to guide their interactions with their donors.…”

Tax-Exempt Status and Associated Factors among Charitable Foundations in China

“…According to the signaling effect, institutions with good governance and success in fulfilling their missions can choose to distinguish their good quality through the voluntary disclosure of their internal information to the public [36]. They can strategically increase their public trustworthiness by creditably disclosing more information and enhancing their own public transparency [3,25,26]. By this means, a charitable organization with better transparency may collect more donations and receive more social resources so that it is able to achieve its mission in a sustainable fashion.…”

“…With social goals as parts of their mission, the activities of a CO go beyond giving relief to the indigent, as their actions can extend to include the promotion of happiness and the support of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for society. These SDGs can be activities such as promoting health equity, employment opportunity, community security, responsible social practices, social equity, environmental protection, and natural resource conservation [2,3]. Due to wide social supporting roles and participation, COs are playing an increasingly important and active role during the decision-making and the implementation process for social sustainability, in both the public and private sectors, as well as at both the national and international level [4,5].…”

“…Additionally, some scholars argued that nonprofit organizations in China often cannot classify income sources clearly; hence tax exemption and administration often cannot be implemented effectively [24]. During the past five years, there has been a volume of literature studying the transparency and associated factors of CFs in China [3,[25][26][27][28]. More recently, there has been a surge of studies focusing on the political connections of Chinese foundations [29,30].…”

The Systematic Literature Review: Advantages and Applications in Nonprofit Scholarship

“…this task. Researchers are also learning to extract content mechanically, such as with ''text scraping'' and ''mining'' software or some other form of computer-assisted analysis (for sector-specific applications, seeOrtega-Rodrı ´guez et al, 2020;Santos …”