Impact of ethical practices on performance outcome measures in a select group of nonprofit organizations in Florida.

摘要

Nonprofit programs deliver key social services to millions of people across the country everyday, however, little is known about the ethical practices of these programs. This research examines the relationship between a nonprofit program's ethical practices and the programs' measurable outcomes, such as changes in knowledge, attitudes, values, skills, behavior, condition, or status of the participant as a result of their involvement with nonprofit programs. An assumption of the study is that the achievement of the measurable outcomes found in a nonprofit program is directly related to the extent that ethical practices are utilized within that program. Ethical practices include role modeling, ethics development, ethics enforcement and review, stewardship, transparency, and empowerment.;This study demonstrates that the ethical strategy Transparency influences the achievement of program performance outcomes. Through a combination of quantitative and qualitative analysis, this study attempts to illustrate the impact of transparency as well as determine how it is incorporated in nonprofit programs based on interviews with nonprofit program managers/directors.;Additionally, this study demonstrates that the capacity of a program's processes is negatively associated with the achievement of program performance outcomes. This finding suggests the need for a greater level of transparency in program planning and performance outcome measure development in order to ensure the program is mission driven and its performance outcomes are meeting the needs of the community it serves.