Evaluation in nonprofit organizations: A defense of perception as a managerial and scientific tool

Nonprofit organizations (NPOs) are subject to multiple pressures from their stakeholders. Stakeholders are at the same time the target of the organization's mission, the evaluators, the providers of resources and the demanders. This article is an essay that defends reciprocal perception as a managerial tool. The proposed intellectual path leads to the revalorization of stakeholder perception as a very useful practical and scientific tool for the management and study of NPOs. However, perception has limitations that the introduction of the concept of reciprocity can address.     

Governing a union's external stakeholders: A prioritization method based on relationship quality and perceived impact

Stakeholder governance is a growing issue in the literature and for organizations. The complex and uncertain environment of nonprofit organizations forces them to prioritize stakeholder requirements. The traditional criterion of influence and power is nevertheless proving insufficient for these organizations, especially those in political or interest representation sectors. This article proposes to use the relationship quality with stakeholders and its components (trust, satisfaction, influence, engagement) as criteria for prioritization. The study is carried out within the “Young Farmers” union, a French 50,000-member union defending the interests of agriculture and of farmers under 35 years of age. It questions external stakeholders on the relationship with the organization and its impact and it enables to verify the relevance of these criteria. The results suggest integrating stakeholder emotions into the same-named theory and studying relationship quality as a process in which satisfaction builds trust that enables engagement, which itself has a positive role on influence. The findings also revisit strategic models of stakeholder prioritization by proposing the four components of relationship quality mentioned above as prioritization attributes. Finally, NPOs’ partners are invited to take into account the subjectivity of the evaluation process and thus to favor reasonable methods to avoid handicapping NPOs.     

乡村生态产品价值实现的多中心治理体系探讨

研究目的：以集体行动困境为切入点，探索乡村振兴和生态文明战略背景下乡村生态产品价值实现的多中心治理体系，以期为中国乡村生态产品价值实现提供理论指导。研究方法：文献分析法、归纳演绎法和米切尔评分法。研究结果：（1）单一治理模式容易造成集体行动困境问题，乡村生态产品价值实现亟需多中心治理体系支撑，包括关键要素、治理机制和角色定位；（2）多中心治理的关键要素包括清晰界定边界、资源禀赋适配、市场自由、嵌套式治理与发展、监督与制裁、冲突解决和共建共治共享；（3）新制度供给、可信承诺和相互监督是关键要素长久运行的重要保障，是多中心治理的重要机制；（4）地方政府、企业、村集体和村民作为核心利益者，应当根据自身的利益目标承担相应的角色职责，找准角色定位。研究结论：随着乡村社会结构不断变迁和重构，乡村生态产品价值实现的多中心治理尤其重要。建议建构“有为政府、有效市场、担当集体和自发村民”的多中心治理格局，以实现乡村生态产品的价值增值。