Impacts of board roles and responsibilities, leadership styles and information and communication technology adoptions on organizational performance : A study of nonprofit organizations in Thailand

Abstract

This research aimed to explore how these key factors – leadership styles, board roles and responsibilities, and ICT adoption – are related to the performance of nonprofit organizations (NPOs) in Thailand. The resource-based view theory, the agency theory, the resource dependent theory, the institution theory, leadership theories, as well as concepts about ICT adoption were studied to create factors that affect the performance of NPOs. The samples used in this research were 906 NPOs that were registered with the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security. Questionnaires were employed to gain opinions from management, such as board chair, executive director or managing director, board member, secretary general, and middle management (project manager and department manager). The number of respondents was 329. The Stepwise Regression Analysis was utilized to test the framework and assumptions of the research. To support and verify the findings from quantitative research, qualitative research by means of in-depth interviews and a review of case studies of NPOs was employed. The in-depth interviews were conducted with top management from 14 organizations, which had wide diversity in terms of management approaches, purposes, sizes, target groups for their services, and the nature of the activities undertaken. The study found that the most important factor that positively influenced the performance of the NPOs was the charismatic leadership style of the leader. Also, the NPO leaders were also equipped with the transformational leadership style, in terms of intellectual stimulation. The second factor was the adoption of ICT in communications and information sharing. The third factor was board roles and responsibilities, in terms of financial management and fundraising; this factor could least explain or forecast the performance of NPOs in Thailand. Also, the qualitative research revealed that leadership was an important factor to the success of NPOs because it encouraged other significant factors that are valuable and which affect NPO performance. These factors included innovativeness and revenue generation and sources. The board roles and responsibilities also dealt with giving advice and building relationships with communities and external organizations, which resulted in networking, a critical factor to innovativeness and NPO performance. Based on the findings, an integrated framework was proposed to manifest the relationship of these factors.