Understanding the Diverse Purposes of Performance Information use in Nonprofits: An Empirical Study of Factors Influencing the Use of Performance Measures

Does performance-based accountability impact how non-profit directors perceive organizational performance? Insights from rational planning

“…Furthermore, adding to this train of thought, we find that organizational size interferesalbeit modestlywith the extent to which management tools are used and organizational performance is measured. These observations resonate with earlier studies indicating that both institutional pressures and organizational contingencies impact performance information use (e.g., Lee, 2020), management tool use (e.g., George, Van de Walle, et al, 2019;Laegreid, Roness, & Rubecksen, 2007) and performance measurement in a public service context (e.g., Julnes & Holzer, 2001;Lall, 2017). Although our study indicates that performance-based control can work in a non-profit setting, it largely remains silent under which circumstances this is (not) likely the case.…”

“…Evidence supporting this view for NPOs remains scarce to date. Drawing on survey data collected from Californian NPOs, Lee (2020) finds a positive relationship between public funding and performance information use, thereby suggesting that accountability demands coupled to governmental funding can transcend from instrumental reporting to purposeful organizational use. Providing a complementary piece of the puzzle, LeRoux and Wright (2010) report a positive relationship between performance measurement and self-perceived strategic decision-making effectiveness among US-based NPOs, indicating that non-profit managers indeed use performance information when making organizational decisions.…”

“…In specific, by examining the interrelationship between performancebased accountability, rational planning and subjective organizational performance, we unravel whetherand if so, to what extentpublic accountability demands can transcend from instrumentally demonstrating legitimacy towards resource holders to purposeful organizational learning in a non-profit context. This study is, to our knowledge, one of the few studies to examine these research gaps by analysing a large sample of NPOs (e.g., Lee, 2020;LeRoux & Wright, 2010), which thus not only allows to account for organizational diversity inherently to the nonprofit domain (see e.g., , but also to provide findings which have relevance for other post-corporatist welfare states. Second, our study ties in with the broader argument that "public administration, public policy and nonprofit management are intersectional domains of inquiry" that can inform each other (Brooks, 2002;Pandey & Johnson, 2019, pp.…”

Conceptualizing and Measuring the Promotion of Nonprofit Organizations’ Evidence Use by U.S. Social Service Funding Programs

“…Funded nonprofits may scale their efforts to meet funders' bare minimum requirements (Bryan et al, 2020;Carman, 2011;Mitchell & Berlan, 2016;Thomson, 2010); do the funding programs promote evidence use of sufficient rigor or merely box-checking? Nonprofits do commonly engage in symbolic use of evaluation (Carman & Fredericks, 2008;Lee, 2020); to what extent do funding programs inadvertently promote symbolic use of the broader range of types of evidence, with nonprofits cherry-picking evidence to support their favored, predetermined program design choices? How do government funding expectations affect organizations' cultural dispositions toward learning, an essential prerequisite to evidence use (Bach-Mortensen & Montgomery, 2018;Bryan et al, 2020;Despard, 2016;Lee, 2020;Mitchell & Berlan, 2016?…”

“…Nonprofits do commonly engage in symbolic use of evaluation (Carman & Fredericks, 2008;Lee, 2020); to what extent do funding programs inadvertently promote symbolic use of the broader range of types of evidence, with nonprofits cherry-picking evidence to support their favored, predetermined program design choices? How do government funding expectations affect organizations' cultural dispositions toward learning, an essential prerequisite to evidence use (Bach-Mortensen & Montgomery, 2018;Bryan et al, 2020;Despard, 2016;Lee, 2020;Mitchell & Berlan, 2016? Given the common problem of low levels of evaluation and performance measurement expertise in nonprofits, are applicants able to accurately budget for the evidence use requirements in their proposals, or do funded nonprofits incur cost overruns, and do evidence use expectations favor larger, more established, and more professionalized nonprofit organizations?…”