The optimal jurisdiction size has been debated since Plato and Aristotle. A large literature has studied economic and democratic scale effects, but we have almost no knowledge of the effects of jurisdiction size on the effectiveness of local services. This is due to two methodological problems. First, selection bias and reverse causality often render change in jurisdiction size an endogenous variable. Second, there is a lack of empirical indicators of effectiveness, and most studies therefore focus on spending measures. Extant research thus studies economies of scale, leaving effectiveness of scale unexamined. We address both problems in a quasi‐experimental study of public schools. Our findings from the school area indicate that jurisdiction size does not have systematic effects on effectiveness. Our analysis therefore supports recent studies of economic and democratic scale effects that indicate that the search for the optimal jurisdiction size is futile.

This research examines the manner in which effectiveness is socially constructed and interpreted within a subpopulation of “practical solution delivering” Canadian environmental organizations. Key findings are that effectiveness is not framed by ENGO staff in terms of sustainability-related outcomes of value, despite contextual reasons why this might be so. Instead, effectiveness is interpreted in terms of popularity and engagement with the public, with funders and with other key stakeholders. This suggests that despite organizational and population affirmations to the contrary, the environmental programs and activities are designed to engage human awareness and affect more than to create practical environmental change.

In January 2018, two different large-scale simulation games on the European Union’s decision-making process took place in Brussels. This study aims to bring systematic empirical evidence from both EuroSim and SUNY Model EU, two active learning experiences that gather around 300 international participants. The intention is to scrutinize whether specific student attributes generate differential effects on the learning outcomes. These involve cognitive outcomes and affective outcomes. The first type refers to participant’s level of knowledge and understanding about the EU policy-making dynamics. The second type reflects on participants’ overall interest and motivation upon the EU. The data were obtained through a post-game survey method based on stratified sampling. The results point at affective outcomes as the most salient learning outcomes of the simulations. In relation to participants’ features, the data reveal country of origin and gender as good performance-enhancers for students of non-EU origin and for the female cohort. All in all, in order to increase the usefulness of large-scale simulations, more attention needs to be given to participant selection and role attribution, as well as post-simulation debriefing or focus groups.

This article makes three key contributions to debates surrounding the effectiveness of democratic innovation, deliberation and participation in representative political systems. In the first instance, it argues that more attention should be paid to the role that participation actually plays in governance. The literature on democratic institutional design often neglects concern about the effects of innovative institutional designs on more traditional representative fora, at the expense of concerns about their internal procedures. Second, the article argues that despite limitations, replicable systematic comparison of the effects of institutional design is both necessary and possible even at the level of national governance. A comparative analysis of 31 cases of National Public Policy Conferences (NPPCs) in Brazil is presented. Finally, the article shows that popular deliberative assemblies that vary in their familiarity and their policy area of interest, and that organise their structure and sequence deliberation in different ways can be associated with differential effects on both option analysis and option selection stages of the policy process, respectively.

The aim of this scoping literature review is to conceptualize Policy Advocacy Effectiveness (PAE) within the sphere of nonprofit advocacy, responding to recent calls for research on NPO advocacy outcomes. We focus our analysis on the criteria and indicators used in empirical studies to measure NPO-driven PAE. Our findings identify five main categories of outcome criteria: policy cycle outcomes, organizational capacity outcomes, constituent outcomes, public salience outcomes and societal outcomes. Each operationalized with a diverse set of indicators that are seldom replicated across our sample. Despite this apparent multi-dimensional conceptualization of PAE throughout the studies, our review reveals a dominant trend toward unidimensional assessments, a focus on policy cycle outcome criteria and a methodological preference for perceptual methods in evaluating PAE. Moreover, our analysis exposes a significant lack of theoretical grounding in the reviewed studies, with minimal integration of political or policy process theories. In light of these findings, this paper advocates for a future research trajectory that could deepen the understanding of PAE. We recommend fully embracing the complexity of PAE, encouraging researchers to adopt a multi-dimensional perspective and to diversify their methodological approaches to enhance the robustness and relevance of PAE-related findings.

This study explores which governance practices nonprofit leaders consider necessary to avoid organizational crises. Further, it explores whether these leadership mental models of crisis resistance depend on the organizational context. This helps determine whether practical learning points are organization specific or can be applied broadly. With a multilevel sample of 304 leaders from 44 Belgian nongovernmental development organizations, an exploratory path analysis reveals that nonprofit leaders consider continuous improvement, as a governance practice, particularly relevant for effective organizational crisis resistance. A multilevel analysis also shows that variations in leadership mental models cannot be explained by the organizational variables used in this study (organizational size, leadership group size, operational activities, and languages in the leadership group). This article concludes with a discussion of consequences for further research.

The long-term performance of NPOs is based on their ability to link and maximize social value as defined in their mission. This involves legitimacy obtained from stakeholders influenced by and influencing NPO activities, and their operational capacity or economic efficiency. Thus, NPOs have to utilize multiple level accountability systems which should be compatible with their multiple objectives and stakeholders’ claims. The accountability system of an NPO should focus on its operational capacity, because in order to maximize its efficiency, an NPO has to measure its resource use, cost structure, and financial structure. Legitimacy obtained from stakeholders is also integral. If an organization is considered a social contract between multiple stakeholders, it has to consider the social economic effects of its activities and it has the duty to account for them. However, since the mission of an NPO is to create and distribute social value to a certain specific group, its social value creation has the most important role and an NPO should measure the social value it has created. This article analyzes the accountability system of a specific type of Italian NPO called Centri di Servizio per il Volontariato (CSVs)—namely centers which provide services for voluntary associations. The aim of the research is to verify if the accountability system adopted by CSVs satisfies their need for multiple level information (operational, legitimacy, and social value) and accomplishes their stakeholder claims, and to determine its impact on the definition and implementation of their strategy and on their long-term performance. The research was carried out using the action research model, and the findings are based on the analysis of a sample of 64 CSVs situated throughout Italy.

Indigenous NGOs in Uganda are a key stakeholder in the development process. Unfortunately, their impact on the ground has over the years been affected by their poor credibility. Until this research, no empirical research had been done to explore this terrain in Uganda. It is in the wake of this that this research was undertaken. This work was undertaken under the Swedish International Development Agency/Swedish Department for Research Cooperation grant for capacity-building for Makerere University. It was carried out on 100 NGOs selected randomly from some purposively selected districts. A total of 783 respondents responded to a questionnaire whereas some 100 key informants were also involved. The study employed both qualitative and quantitative approaches. Factor analysis with loadings above 0.4 established that several variables affect each of the factors, with the highest randomly selected loading in each factor being as follows: in accountability (0.61291), transparency (−0.66958), legitimacy (0.43661) partnership/networking (0.48110), ICT (−0.42610) and effectiveness (−0.77667). The beta (β) column under the standardised coefficients shows that the beta for legitimacy = 0.236; efficiency = 0.171; transparency = 0.153; accountability = 0.141; partnership = 0.120 and ICT = 0.080 and that all are significant at 0.001 level. The coefficients show that legitimacy is the most predictive factor for credibility and that the least predictive factor is ICT. All in all, it was established that the credibility of the NGOs is just average. The level of credibility was found to be insufficient for the badly needed effective service delivery and poverty eradication in a country where 24.5% of the population still live in absolute poverty. It is recommended that in practice, for NGOs to effectively participate in poverty eradication and enhance their credibility, they should invest in the above factors in proportion to their predictive power. Theoretically, more research needs to be done in order to develop a robust theory on the NGOs’ credibility. However, it was noted that these key factors could still provide guidelines for the theoretical explanation of the NGOs’ credibility in Uganda.

This article reports on the results of a multi-year, multi-phase international quantitative research investigation into perceptions of board chair leadership impact in nonprofit and voluntary organizations in Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom. Specifically, this research tests four hypotheses and a hypothesized model derived from theoretical perspectives on chair leadership effectiveness that emerged when the results of a prior grounded theory research investigation were reviewed ex post facto through the lens of leadership literature (see Harrison and Murray, NPML, accepted). The purpose of this phase of the research is to determine: (a) whether there is empirical support for the theoretical perspectives advanced; and (b) which perspective offers the best explanation for why some board chairs are perceived as having more impact in the role than others. The results suggest chair leadership effectiveness is best understood as a multi-dimensional theoretical construct explained by more than one leadership theory. The article concludes with a discussion of the findings and directions for further research.

This study based on Kazakhstan nonprofit organizations (NPOs) is the first to address the important issue of the relationship between volunteer management and volunteer program effectiveness in an international setting. Our inquiry is informed by findings of US scholars that show that the adoption of a recommended set of volunteer management practices is related to the level of effectiveness achieved with volunteer involvement in NPOs. The paper advances a path model to explain volunteer program effectiveness, with volunteer management practices the crucial intermediate variable. Based on data collected in a survey of Almaty (Kazakhstan) NPOs in 2004, the empirical analysis yields considerable support for a path model that focuses on both the adoption of these practices and the attainment of program effectiveness. Given the heterogeneity of NPOs, not every organization can be expected to benefit from the adoption of the recommended practices. Nevertheless, results suggest that they offer one workable means for successfully integrating volunteers.

Suicide remains one of the leading causes of death globally, with growing evidence that humanitarian emergencies and fragile states, most of which unfold in low- to middle-income countries (LMICs), are associated with elevated risk of suicide. However, the few suicide-targeted interventions for use in humanitarian contexts remain both sparse and fragmented. This scoping review aims to identify and synthesise evidence from suicide and self-harm prevention interventions implemented in all types of humanitarian settings, globally, that have been evaluated for their effectiveness in improving suicide and self-harm-related outcomes. We systematically searched eight electronic databases, including two grey literature databases, and relevant organisational websites for records published through November 2024 and in any language. Screening was done using the Covidence platform, with each record independently screened by two reviewers. Among other preselected inclusion criteria, studies must have conducted a quantitative evaluation of the effectiveness of an intervention on improving suicide and self-harm-related outcomes during a humanitarian crisis to be included for data extraction. Data extraction and quality assessment were both conducted by two authors. In all, 6,209 records were screened at the title and abstract phase; 104 were included for full text screening; and 23 studies were included for data extraction. Most studies were conducted during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic (COVID-19), and in high-income countries. Evaluated interventions encompassed various approaches, including psychotherapeutic, practical, and pharmacological assistance, often employing multiple components. The majority targeted the general population, were delivered via remote modalities and relied on mental health specialists for their administration. Overall, 15 (65.2%) interventions were associated with statistically significant positive effects on suicide and or self-harm-related outcomes. Promising approaches include cognitive behavioural therapy-based text services, skills-building programmes, and strategies that foster supportive environments for high-risk individuals. These findings highlight both promising approaches and critical gaps in suicide prevention efforts in humanitarian settings. The limited evidence base – particularly in LMICs and with particularly at-risk populations – alongside the increasing frequency of humanitarian crises, underscores the urgent need for future implementation and associated research of suicide and self-harm prevention initiatives within humanitarian contexts.

The following Article deals with the prerequisites required for effective arbitration agreements in Germany, thereby comparing it with US law. It will be shown that the main obstacle for the effectiveness of arbitration agreements in consumer contracts is the requirement of a formally separated, personally signed written document as set out in § 1031 Sec. 5 ZPO. Contrary to consumer contracts, there is no specific form requirement in business contractual. This statutory concept surprises because the effectiveness mainly depends on formal, non-material requirements. Taking this into account, the following Article will highlight the question whether the current legal framework is ensuring an informed consent.