Download files
Abstract
There is no doubt that NGO accountability is an important mechanism used by NGOs to achieve trust from society. However, although NGO practitioners and researchers have been practicing and studying accountability for decades, accountability management remains not well understood. In order to address this knowledge gap, this research investigated: 1. how the constitutive elements of NGO accountability are collectively constructed by multiple parties involved in a particular context; 2. how NGOs manage and navigate multiple dimensions of accountability to various stakeholders; 3. the strategies employed by NGOs that underpin their accountability management practices.
The research recognised the need to employ a socially constructed approach as it is context-based and includes multiple participant groups. The researcher purposefully chose four Chinese grassroots NGOs in the area of child welfare, covering NGOs that all have a strong reputation among various stakeholders for taking accountability seriously. The data collected during the four case studies confirmed the reputations of the organisations involved in the research. In each NGO, organizational documents were collected, observations were noted, and interviews were conducted with both NGO practitioners and stakeholders.
A three-dimensional framework was developed to understand the multidimensional nature of NGO accountability at the perception, practical and strategic levels. This framework consists of the three dimensions of NGO accountability (i.e., value, relational and performance dimensions) that are emphasised by both agency theory and stewardship theory. However, unlike these two theories, the employed framework did not confine the constitutive elements of NGO accountability in each dimension. Rather, it allowed the data to inform the contents of each dimension and was open for new dimensions to emerge.
This research argued that NGO accountability is a value-driven dynamic process embodied in NGO performance. Whether it is perceived, practised or planned, NGO accountability appears to have two fundamental features: being three-dimensional in constitution and being a dynamic process in formation. This research proposed that analysis of NGO accountability should consider all three dimensions of NGO accountability simultaneously, and to consider them from a dynamic perspective.