西方非营利组织治理研究的主要理论述评

A Review of the Main Theories of Nonprofit Governance in English Literature

治理是国际范围内非营利组织研究的一个重要主题。文章系统评述了西方英文文献中自20世纪80年代中后期以来关于非营利组织治理的主要理论,主要涉及代理理论、管家理论、资源依赖理论、制度理论和利益相关者理论。在对各大理论的渊源和主要观点梳理的基础上,文章从理事会的功能、理事会与执行层的关系、理事会成员的选择三个方面,对不同理论之间的异同进行了比较。文章认为,在将来的发展中,各大理论之间的对话、吸收和融合将会日益明显。基于中国场景的经验研究将有助于验证和发展这些理论。

Governance is one of the core topics in nonprofit research worldwide. This paper reviews the main theories of nonprofit governance since the mid- 1980s in English literature, including agency theory, steward- ship theory, resource dependence theory, institutional theory and stakeholder theory. Based on the introduction to the origins and main points of the theories, this paper compares the common features and diversities of this literature. The author proposes that the fusion of such research and resulting dialogue will be more frequent and that solid empirical studies rooted in China will be helpful for testing and developing these theories.