The Right Stuff: Are Not-For-Profit Managers Really Different?

What is it about?

In response to public pressure for accountability in the not-for-profit (NFP) sector, attempts have been made to adopt for-profit controls. These have generated mixed results. While many have argued that employees attracted to the NFP sector are "different," little prior empirical evidence backs up this claim. To address this gap, we review the literature to identify claimed individual characteristics that might differ and use the survey method to examine whether these differences exist between the groups of responding managers working in the NFP and for-profit sectors. NFP respondents exhibit lower levels of narcissism, lower levels of entitlement, less extroversion, and a more externally oriented locus of control than their for-profit counterparts. In exploratory multivariate analysis, best predictors of NFP membership include extroversion, locus of control, conscientiousness and moral reasoning. Rather surprisingly, the groups did not differ on altruism or tolerance for ambiguity. Implications for control system design are discussed.

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