Governance in the Arts and Culture Nonprofit Sector: Vigilance or Indifference?

Johanne Turbide,Claude Laurin

doi:10.3390/admsci4040413

Abstract

In this article we attempt to contribute to governance research in the nonprofit area by proposing a conceptual framework inspired by recent developments in the literature. First, we analyze the governance of nonprofit organizations (hereafter, NPOs) from different theoretical perspectives, inspired by for-profit, nonprofit and public sector theories on governance. After presenting a governance framework for NPOs, we explore empirically whether its various dimensions are being taken into account by NPOs in the arts and culture sector. Our findings suggest that, among NPOs in this sector, governance is still viewed as a narrow concept where board members are mainly passive, basically rubber-stamping decisions for the benefit of external funders.

Highlights

The last 15 years have seen a growing body of literature on governance in both the for-profit and nonprofit sectors [1,2,3,4]
Our research question is as follows: How do NPOs in the arts and culture sector incorporate external and internal dimensions into their governance practices? Our findings suggest that, among NPOs in this sector, governance is still viewed as a narrow concept where board members are mainly passive, basically rubber-stamping decisions for the benefit of external funders
Our framework was inspired by different theoretical perspectives and considers external and internal dimensions of governance, reflecting recent developments in the nonprofit governance literature

Summary

Introduction

The last 15 years have seen a growing body of literature on governance in both the for-profit and nonprofit sectors [1,2,3,4]. Since the start of the crises, the literature on governance has proliferated and different theories and. In this article we attempt to contribute to the governance research in the nonprofit area by proposing a framework inspired by recent developments in the literature. We analyze the governance of nonprofit organizations (hereafter, NPOs) from different theoretical perspectives, inspired by for-profit, nonprofit and public sector theories on governance. Our research question is as follows: How do NPOs in the arts and culture sector incorporate external and internal dimensions into their governance practices? Among NPOs in this sector, governance is still viewed as a narrow concept where board members are mainly passive, basically rubber-stamping decisions for the benefit of external funders Our research question is as follows: How do NPOs in the arts and culture sector incorporate external and internal dimensions into their governance practices? Our findings suggest that, among NPOs in this sector, governance is still viewed as a narrow concept where board members are mainly passive, basically rubber-stamping decisions for the benefit of external funders

Objectives

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion