A look inside the nonprofit boardroom: Influences on decision comprehensiveness and decision quality

Findings of recent scholarly investigations show that board members of nonprofit organizations (NPOs) have become more directly involved in the process of strategic decision-making (SDM). Despite these findings, our understanding of decision processes in NPOs is under-developed and little is known about the factors that impact decision processes and their outcomes in NPOs. In this study, we shed light on the process of SDM within the boardrooms of NPOs by focusing on decision comprehensiveness as an important aspect of the SDM process. Our findings, based on data from a sample of 244 nonprofits, indicate that NPO's mission clarity and decision process fairness within the boardroom increase the comprehensiveness of decision-making processes and ultimately improve decision quality.