The Nonprofit Starvation Cycle: The Extent of Overhead Ratios’ Manipulation, Distrust, and Ramifications

IF 2.3 2区社会学 Q1 SOCIAL ISSUES

Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly Pub Date : 2024-02-27 DOI:10.1177/08997640241233724

Mirae Kim, Étienne Charbonneau, Jessica Sowa

{"title":"The Nonprofit Starvation Cycle: The Extent of Overhead Ratios’ Manipulation, Distrust, and Ramifications","authors":"Mirae Kim, Étienne Charbonneau, Jessica Sowa","doi":"10.1177/08997640241233724","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"While little evidence supports the notion that financially responsible nonprofits must maintain low overhead ratios, the persistent preference for reduced overhead costs endures. Our study explores (a) the extent of underreporting behaviors, (b) the level of trust (or distrust) that nonprofit leaders have in overhead ratio reports, and (c) the motivations perceived by managers that drive nonprofits to adjust their overhead ratios and the resulting consequences. Experiment results from the “item sum double-list technique” (ISDLT) reveal that nonprofit managers may artificially lower their overhead ratios by approximately 10 percentage points, a range spanning from 7 to 16 percentage points. This adjustment aims to enhance their competitiveness in the funding market. Our vignette-based experiment uncovers significant trust issues related to reported low overhead ratios, potentially indicating accounting manipulation within the field. Complemented by open-ended survey responses from nonprofit managers, our research offers valuable insights into this domain.","PeriodicalId":48235,"journal":{"name":"Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.3000,"publicationDate":"2024-02-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly","FirstCategoryId":"90","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1177/08997640241233724","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"SOCIAL ISSUES","Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Abstract

While little evidence supports the notion that financially responsible nonprofits must maintain low overhead ratios, the persistent preference for reduced overhead costs endures. Our study explores (a) the extent of underreporting behaviors, (b) the level of trust (or distrust) that nonprofit leaders have in overhead ratio reports, and (c) the motivations perceived by managers that drive nonprofits to adjust their overhead ratios and the resulting consequences. Experiment results from the “item sum double-list technique” (ISDLT) reveal that nonprofit managers may artificially lower their overhead ratios by approximately 10 percentage points, a range spanning from 7 to 16 percentage points. This adjustment aims to enhance their competitiveness in the funding market. Our vignette-based experiment uncovers significant trust issues related to reported low overhead ratios, potentially indicating accounting manipulation within the field. Complemented by open-ended survey responses from nonprofit managers, our research offers valuable insights into this domain.

查看原文本刊更多论文

非营利组织的饥饿循环：管理费用比率的操纵、不信任和影响程度

虽然几乎没有证据支持非营利组织在财务上必须保持较低的管理费用比率这一观点，但人们对降低管理费用的持续偏好却一直存在。我们的研究探讨了：（a）少报行为的程度；（b）非营利组织领导者对管理费用比率报告的信任（或不信任）程度；（c）管理者认为促使非营利组织调整管理费用比率的动机以及由此产生的后果。"项目总和双列表技术"（ISDLT）的实验结果表明，非营利组织管理者可能会人为地将其管理费用比率降低约 10 个百分点，幅度从 7 个百分点到 16 个百分点不等。这种调整的目的是提高他们在资金市场上的竞争力。我们基于小故事的实验发现了与报告的低管理费用比率相关的重大信任问题，这可能表明该领域存在会计操纵。作为对非营利组织管理者开放式调查回答的补充，我们的研究为这一领域提供了宝贵的见解。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

求助全文

约1分钟内获得全文求助全文

来源期刊

Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly SOCIAL ISSUES-

CiteScore

5.30

自引率

14.30%

发文量

期刊介绍： Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, the journal of the Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action, is an international, interdisciplinary journal that seeks to enhance the quality of life and general welfare of humanity through effective and appropriate voluntary action by reporting on research and programs related to voluntarism, citizen participation, philanthropy, and nonprofit organizations in societies around the world.