Ralf Caers

The Governance of Nonprofit Organizations Integrating Agency Theory With Stakeholder and Stewardship Theories

The purpose of this article is to provide a more comprehensive principal–agent theory of nonprofit organizations by combining agency theory with aspects of stakeholder theory, stewardship theory, and empirical literature on the governance and management of nonprofit organizations. First, the use of a stakeholder perspective allows us to identify the principals of a nonprofit organization and to divide nonprofit principal–agent relationships into different categories. Next, we discuss the assumptions and prescriptions of agency theory and stewardship theory and suggest that a complementary use of these theories can contribute to the research of principal–agent relationships. By discussing empirical literature from a stewardship–agency perspective, we are able to address issues of nonprofit accountability. We conclude by giving suggestions for further research and by stressing the importance of a recruitment policy to avoid internal agency problems.

LinkedIn and Facebook in Belgium: The Influences and Biases of Social Network Sites in Recruitment and Selection Procedures

This study investigates whether Belgian recruitment and selection (R&S) professionals use LinkedIn and Facebook during their R&S procedures and to what extent. A total of 398 and 353 respondents, respectively, from various sectors and from organizations of various sizes, responded to an online questionnaire concerning Facebook and LinkedIn. Descriptive analyses indicate that both the social network sites have become extra tools for recruiting applicants, to find additional information about them, and to decide who will be invited for an interview. Belgian R&S professionals do, however, use LinkedIn and Facebook in a different way, both for recruitment and for selection. Finally, it is shown that while R&S professionals claim profile pictures on Facebook do not provide signals on personality dimensions like emotional stability and agreeableness, they do tend to recognize signals of extraversion and maturity. The latter creates the risk that common selection biases occur even before the first interview.

Facebook: A literature review

This article provides a critical review of scientific, peer reviewed, articles on Facebook between 2006 and 2012. The review shows that while there are yet numerous articles on various aspects of the social network site, there are still many gaps to be filled. Also, due to the limited scope of many articles (in sample sizes as well as in the number of countries included in the studies) and frequent changes to Facebook’s design and features, it is not only necessary to revisit many of these articles but also to integrate their research findings. The review ends with a critical discussion and directions for future research.

Freshmen in nursing: job motives and work values of a new generation

AIM To identify the features young nurses look for in their job (job motives) and the features they look for in work in general (work values). BACKGROUND In view of the shortage of appropriately educated and motivated nurses, a study of the motivational profile of the new generation nurses may provide additional insights. METHOD In a survey, 344 newly graduate Belgian nurses were questioned. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS Results indicate that many of the traditional attractions are still important, with the recurrent issue of altruism. Furthermore, men are found to be more attracted by career opportunities, executive powers and autonomy, while women tend to attach more importance to interpersonal characteristics. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING MANAGEMENT When considering the new generation nurses, budget cuts and restructuring must be handled with prudence, due to the risk of crowding out the altruistic and interpersonal work features, which determine the specificity of the nursing job.

Agency problems and unrelated business income of non-profit organizations: an empirical analysis

Nonprofit organizations are traditionally assumed to dislike commercial activities. In the USA, they are however allowed to engage in commercial activities, but the income they derive from these activities is then subject to the so-called ‘unrelated business income tax’. If NPOs do indeed dislike commercial income, then why do they engage in these activities? Using a data set of 2103 US NPOs, this study suggests that the presence of agency problems inside the organization can at least provide an explanation for the occurrence of ‘unrelated business income’.

A micro-economic perspective on manager selection in nonprofit organizations

This paper recognizes that individuals working in the nonprofit sector can have different motives and investigates which type of manager nonprofit organizations should best employ. It first considers a situation in which the manager is allowed to attract only one employee and later extends the analysis to a situation in which up to three employees can be employed. Analyses mark the importance of a strong commitment to the organizations mission and caution for both a strong self-interest and a strong devotion to the well-being of the clients. Managers with a moderate interest in their own objectives can nevertheless be valuable to the organization. The paper also marks why managers should avoid similar-to-me biases in the selection process and investigates the effects of an increased work pressure on the behavior of the managers and on the attainment of the organizational goals.

Effects of short and prolonged transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation on heart rate variability in healthy subjects

The vagus nerve is strategically located in the body, and has multiple homeostatic and health-promoting effects. Low vagal activity predicts onset and progression of diseases. These are the reasons to activate this nerve. This study examined the effects of transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation (t-VNS) on a main index of vagal activity, namely heart rate variability (HRV). In Study 1, we compared short (10min) left versus right ear t-VNS versus sham (no stimulation) in a within-subjects experimental design. Results revealed significant increases in only one HRV parameter (standard deviation of the RR intervals (SDNN)) following right-ear t-VNS. Study 2 examined the prolonged effects of t-VNS (1h) in the right ear. Compared to baseline, right-t-VNS significantly increased the LF and LF/HF components of HRV, and SDNN in women, but not in men. These results show limited effects of t-VNS on HRV, and are discussed in light of neuroanatomical and statistical considerations and future directions are proposed.

Managerial Objectives and the Governance of Public and Non-Profit Organizations

Abstract By investigating managerial objectives, we test the simultaneous need for both control (agency theory) and collaboration (stewardship theory) in public and non-profit governance. We construct a discrete choice experiment to elicit preferences of managers in Belgian public and non-profit nursing homes. The results confirm that boards of nursing homes may experience pressure to simultaneously control and collaborate with their managers, thereby suggesting that agency and stewardship theory can be combined into a more general internal governance framework. We conclude by providing some policy implications to improve public and non-profit governance.

The non-profit board : a concise review of the empirical literature

This article gives a concise review of the literature on non-profit boards. Given the lack of theoretical work on the subject, the focus of the article lies on the empirical work. This empirical work seems to have developed on two roads: one where the non-profit board is the dependent variable and one where the non-profit board is an independent variable in relation to other variables such as organisational performance. As this article will show, these empirical results often remain equivocal and consensus is lacking. The authors ar gue that a better insight in the composition and structure of the non-profit boards can contribute a lot to the understanding of the behaviour of non-profit organisations.

Does organizational ownership matter? Objectives of employees in public, nonprofit and for-profit nursing homes

Does organizational ownership matter for employees? We conducted a discrete choice experiment to reveal employees’ objectives in for-profit, nonprofit and governmental nursing homes. The results indicate that differences in objectives among nursing home staff are at least partially related to differences in ownership type. More specifically, we find that employees of public nursing homes are less extrinsically motivated than their for-profit and nonprofit counterparts. However, the results also show that employees of for-profit, nonprofit and governmental nursing homes are trading off output quality and output quantity differently, in line with the view that public providers of elderly care are pursuing a supplier-of-last-resort objective function.