Governance for Broadened Accountability: Blending Deliberate and Emergent Strategizing

Abstract

The nonprofit sector is challenged by increasing public and stakeholder demands for a broadened accountability. Strong expectations for performance accountability now accompany those for fiscal accountability. In response, better concepts of nonprofit accountability are being developed in the literature. However, knowledge of governance practices that can achieve broadened accountability has lagged. This article attempts to stimulate research and contribute to such knowledge by (a) synthesizing concepts of accountability presented by Behn (2001), Kearns (1996), and Boland and Schultze (1996) into two categories: rule-based and negotiable accountability; (b) developing grounded concepts concerning the practice of governance by nonprofit leaders; and (c) exploring the interrelationships of the previously discrete concepts of deliberate strategy, emergent strategy, and accountability. The study's ethnographic methods recorded and analyzed real-life interactions involving a board chair—chief executive officer pair. The article presents a detailed narrative description of these actions to convey its key concept, blended strategizing, and to provide stimulus for new practice by leaders in governance situations.