Nonprofit good governance mechanisms: A systematic literature review

Abstract

There is widespread acknowledgment of the importance of nonprofit good governance with a need for guidance on different effective mechanisms to increase ethical practices for the whole sector to assist professionals and researchers. This study explores two research questions: (1) What are the main reasons that inspire nonprofit organizations (NPOs) to implement good governance mechanisms? (2) What are the good governance mechanisms conducted by NPOs? The purpose is to serve as a reference and an instrument of reflection for interested NPOs exploring good governance mechanisms to make their accountability work more effective. We used a systematic literature review methodology for identification, selection, and analysis of published research on nonprofit good governance. A set of 89 articles published until 2021 was analyzed, and a new classification that identified 3 lines and 13 sublines of research was provided. Our results show that a variety of internal mechanisms and international third-party initiatives are underpinned by the need to adhere to standards of ethics and honesty.