Promising Pathways: Investigating Personal Factors Promoting Nonprofit Executives

Kerry Kuenzi,Amanda Stewart

doi:10.20899/jpna.7.3.417-433

Abstract

The nonprofit sector has been critiqued for failing to systematically develop leadership to meet the sector’s professionalizing needs. The personal profile of who sits in the nonprofit executive position can be insightful about what experience and training have been deemed appropriate for nonprofit leadership and may reveal career pathways to the executive position. In this paper, the career backgrounds of 185 nonprofit association executives are reported upon, investigating if the credentials and experience held by these executives helped expedite their career pathway to the top position. The findings indicate that nonprofit sector experience was a significant predictor of time to the executive position, but that other career variables, such as education, credentials, and other previous experiences did not significantly impact the time to the position. This study adds to what we know about the professionalization of the nonprofit sector and raises questions about what signals readiness for the sector’s executive position.

Highlights

The executive position in nonprofits is rife with pressure and described as central to the nonprofit’s operations (Heimovics et al, 1993)
With attention drawn to leadership development in the nonprofit sector, this study investigates if the credentials and experience nonprofit executives hold helped expedite their ascension to the position
Prior research from both within and beyond the nonprofit sector has shown that nonprofit executive career paths are marked by such factors, but no evidence has accrued if these factors contribute to nonprofit career advancement

Summary

Introduction

The executive position in nonprofits is rife with pressure and described as central to the nonprofit’s operations (Heimovics et al, 1993). With over 1.5 million nonprofits in the United States (McKeever, 2019), leadership development for the sector should be broadly conceived with accessible knowledge of what leadership qualities entail and how to develop leadership for the nonprofit sector at a sufficient scale To this end, this study reconstructs career paths and investigates personal factors that helped pave the way for those who currently hold association executive positions. Without the counterfactual of who applied and was not selected, the outcome is held constant and instead factors that paved the route to the top most expeditiously are considered These factors are seen as facilitating a quicker rise to the top and hold insights about the qualities that are preferred for a nonprofit’s top position. The method is presented along with findings from the analysis before closing with discussion of the findings and the study’s limitations

Methods

Discussion

Conclusion