Credibility and Accountability: The Effect of Publication on NGO Willingness to be Evaluated

Authors

Megan Spencer, Brigham Young University
Dr. Michael Findley, Brigham Young University

Keywords

credibility, accountability, publication, NGO environment

College

Family, Home, and Social Sciences

Department

Political Science

Abstract

In today’s NGO environment, evaluations are frequent, but NGOs rarely have outsider expectations on which to base their assessments. Thus, NGOs have strong incentives to make their evaluations strictly contextual. Consequently, NGO stakeholders—donors, beneficiaries, and local government officials—have little information as to the quality of a given organization (Barr et al 2004). This leads to a large spectrum of evaluation techniques and environments in which information asymmetries on both sides of the market are detrimental to NGO improvement (Edwards and Hulme 1998). We believe that a standardized evaluation mechanism for NGOs can help to alleviate some of these obstacles. However, it is unclear whether NGOs would be willing to participate in such an evaluation. In fact, little information emphasizes NGO willingness to be evaluated, in general. What factors influence NGO willingness to be evaluated?

Recommended Citation

Spencer, Megan and Findley, Dr. Michael (2013) "Credibility and Accountability: The Effect of Publication on NGO Willingness to be Evaluated," Journal of Undergraduate Research: Vol. 2013: Iss. 1, Article 453.
Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/jur/vol2013/iss1/453