Beneficiaries' participation in nonprofit organizations: a theory-based approach

Should the beneficiaries of nonprofit organizations (NPOs) be involved in governance and policy-making and, if so, how? The authors review existing knowledge on the role of beneficiaries in organizational governance and describe an integrative framework based on institutional theory, resource dependence theory, and the academic literature on participatory governance mechanisms in NPOs. They present several hypotheses which can be used as the basis for further research.