1Professor, Department of Information Technology and Supply Chain Management, College of Business and Economics, University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, Whitewater, USA
2Associate Professor, Quinean School of Business Administration, Loyala University Chicago, Chicago, USA
Online published on 15 January, 2016.
Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs) need to partner and build trust with developmental agencies, community groups and the population they serve. Donors and governments are now requiring a greater degree of accountability on the part of NGOs. One mechanism to ensure accountability for NGOs is through Non-Governmental Social Responsibility Communication (NGSRC).
In this research, we developed a model of the relationships between socio-cultural values, NGO use of NGSRC, and stakeholders’ evaluations of NGSRC. The NGSRC model has been developed based upon the literature, and provides prescriptions to NGOs to help create culturally tailored and effective communications. This model has been applied in the context of three cases in India.
Given the range of stakeholders that NGOs are accountable to, NGSRC can be a complex process. Many NGOs are accountable to international, national, and regional partners and as such their NGSRC policies need to encapsulate a cross-cultural perspective. Furthermore, NGOs are also dependent on resources provided by the various stakeholders, and need to develop NGSRC polices to reflect stakeholders’ expectations.
NGSRC involves the dissemination of information that enhances an image of social responsibility; it provides stakeholders and other audience members with disclosure about the organization's procedures, metrics, beliefs, and actions concerning social responsibility.
The NGSRC model is developed based upon impression management and resource dependence theories, and provides prescriptions to NGOs to help create culturally tailored and effective communications.
NGOs, Communications, Culture, Resource Dependency
