One board for mission, another board for margin: Exploring two-tiered boards and links to not-for-profit organizational performance

Abstract

Not-for-profit organizations are trusted by donors to provide essential services, with not-for-profit board directors ultimately accountable for organizational performance. Yet links between corporate governance and organizational performance are tenuous, and there is no consensus on how not-for-profit performance should be measured. This thesis reports on exploratory research of an elite group of Australian not-for-profit hospital board directors practicing corporate governance through two-tiered boards, which are common in Germanic influenced corporate governance systems but rare in Anglo-US environments. The thesis quantifies the previously unrecognised use of two-tiered board governance by Australian not-for-profit hospitals and identifies different governance factors perceived by board directors for their potential to contribute to not-for-profit organizational performance.