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Nonprofit Scandals: A Systematic Review and Conceptual Framework

2022; SAGE Publishing; Volume: 52; Issue: 1_suppl Linguagem: Inglês

10.1177/08997640221129541

1552-7395

Cassandra M. Chapman, Matthew J. Hornsey, Nicole Gillespie, Steven Lockey,

Workplace Violence and Bullying

High-profile charity scandals have always represented a threat to the nonprofit sector, which relies on public trust and funding to operate. We systematically review 30 years of empirical research on scandals involving nonprofits and present both quantitative and qualitative syntheses of the 71 articles identified. Informed by this review, we generate a conceptual model theorizing the causes and consequences of scandals, as well as how nonprofits can best prevent and respond to organizational transgressions. We then put forward a research agenda that elaborates five key factors that are especially important for understanding nonprofit scandals but remain understudied: (a) integrity versus competence violations, (b) moral licensing, (c) the multilevel nature of organizational transgressions, (d) sectoral causes of scandal, and (e) effective responses. We close the article with recommendations for nonprofit managers about how to conceptualize, prevent, plan for, and respond to transgressions occurring within their organizations, and any resulting scandals.