Getting Past “Purposeful”: Exploring Dimensionality in Nonprofit Executive Performance Information Use

Clare Fitzgerald

doi:10.20899/jpna.6.3.281-302

Abstract

Although performance information use (PIU) among public managers is a growing and increasingly relevant research area, the existing evidence base has two significant limitations for those interested in its application to nonprofit executives. First, large survey investigations, the predominant method used to assess PIU behaviors, have rarely sampled outside of government. Second, despite theoretical arguments and empirical support for PIU being a multidimensional behavior, only ‘purposeful’ use (i.e., the deliberate and instrumental use of performance information in decision-making to improve organizational operations) has been examined with any regularity. Thus, in addition to developing theory around PIU for nonprofit executives (rather than just public managers within governments), I test established drivers of purposeful and political PIU using survey data from 260 nonprofit executives throughout the United States. Results show that nonprofit executive PIU is driven by different considerations than public manager PIU. Additionally, results show that leadership support of performance measurement is an important driver of purposeful and political PIU, with organizational goal clarity and networking behavior also, specifically, driving political PIU.

Highlights

Nonprofit organizations increasingly deliver core public services; as a result, the nonprofit sector has grown, professionalized, and broadened its range of stakeholders
The survey included language clarifying commonly used terms and provided concrete examples, of decision-making behaviors. This investigation leveraged existing evidence on the drivers of purposeful performance information use (PIU) by public managers in order to examine whether the same patterns of information use emerged for nonprofit executives
The primary goal of this study was to assess whether different considerations drive nonprofit executives to use performance information than public managers

Summary

Introduction

Nonprofit organizations increasingly deliver core public services; as a result, the nonprofit sector has grown, professionalized, and broadened its range of stakeholders This has complicated issues of accountability and has resulted in the need for performance measurement (Christens & Inzeo, 2015; Salamon, 2015), which has led many nonprofits to invest in quantitatively assessing their performance. Despite these investments, there remain significant gaps in the literature regarding nonprofit performance management as well as nonprofit performance information use (PIU) (Carman, 2007; LeRoux & Wright, 2010; Morley, Vinson, & Hatry, 2001).

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Discussion

Conclusion