Accountability and social impact evaluation in a small NPO: stakeholder ambiguity, networks and trust

Karen Lisa Handley

Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, 2025, vol. 38, issue 9, 239-264

Abstract: Purpose - Accountability via social impact (SI) reporting is essential in the third sector, but its delivery is difficult to achieve for small non-profit organisations (NPOs). This case study of a regional NPO aims to explore social impact evaluation (SIE) to understand accountability in this context as for whom, for what and how. Design/methodology/approach - Interview data from 18 NPO stakeholders (in industry, university and government) were analysed thematically. Findings - The study identifies three themes, finding, firstly, that stakeholders perceive the NPO as adding value that is difficult to quantify. Secondly, the NPO builds trust but this is associated with one key person, suggesting both accountability and vulnerability. Thirdly, blurred stakeholder boundaries make it difficult to identify who is accountable for what. The intangible nature of the NPO’s activities and overlapping responsibilities identified in these three themes mean extracting SI measures is difficult. Research limitations/implications - The study extends research into how competing stakeholder views and ambiguity interact with “doing” SIE and adds to our understanding of NPO stakeholder accountability and the unintended consequences of attaching SI value to NPOs. Further research should examine SIE within other small, under- and well-resourced NPOs and test its impacts longitudinally. Practical implications - Some recommendations for SIE approaches are drawn from the interview data. Originality/value - While much of the literature on SIE focuses on large entities, this study examines the practical and conceptual issues of a small third-sector entity attempting to deliver accountability via SI reporting.

Keywords: Social impact evaluation; Accountability; Non-profit organisations; Stakeholder ambiguity; Trust (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.110 ... d&utm_campaign=repec (text/html)
https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.110 ... d&utm_campaign=repec (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eme:aaajpp:aaaj-07-2023-6547

DOI: 10.1108/AAAJ-07-2023-6547

Access Statistics for this article

Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal is currently edited by Prof James Guthrie and Prof Lee Parker

More articles in Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal from Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Emerald Support ().