Toward a Contingency Model of Performance Management in Nonprofit Organizations: Contingency Factors, Performance Management Practices, and Organizational Effectiveness

Abstract

Performance management is a complex challenge for nonprofit organizations (NPOs), which are characterized by their diverse objectives and stakeholders. This article examines the following question: Through what mechanisms do internal and external contingency factors shape performance management practices and, through them, the organizational effectiveness of nonprofit organizations? Building on previous work by Jazouli and Elhamma (2025), this article proposes a specific conceptual framework that integrates three theoretical perspectives. Contingency theory serves as the primary framework, supplemented by resource dependence theory and the neo-institutional approach. The proposed model distinguishes between two internal factors, centralization and formalization, and three external factors: environmental uncertainty, resource dependence and donor pressures, and institutional pressures. Performance management practices serve as mediators between these factors and organizational effectiveness, as measured by management and program effectiveness. Four hypotheses underpin the proposed model. Their empirical validation will be based on a quantitative survey of Moroccan nonprofit organizations and on structural equation modeling using the PLS-SEM approach.

Classification JEL: M41

Paper type: Theoretical Research