Achieving Broadened Accountability in Nonprofit Governance

Abstract

Knowledge of obstacles to achieving Broadened Accountability (BA) in the nonprofit sector and possible paths towards overcoming them has lagged. This paper attempts to stimulate research and contribute to such knowledge by exploring the role that a Community of Practice (CoP) can play in avoiding governance dilemmas and developing grounded concepts around how certain relational practices contribute to the formation of a CoP. The study’s ethnographic methods recorded and analyzed real-life interactions involving a board chair-CEO pair. The paper presents narrative description of these actions to convey its key contribution – a process model for overcoming obstacles to achieving BA.