Recruitment Strategies of Nonprofit Board Members for CEO Candidates

The selection of a chief executive officer (CEO) is vital to the successful governance of a nonprofit organization. Although the skills needed for such roles have been identified in many studies, there is no clarity relative to how they are valued by those with hiring authority. This study uses human capital theory to explore how nonprofit board members select nonprofit executives (CEOs). The findings of this study contribute to the field by providing potential nonprofit leaders insight into how to best prepare for the upcoming job boom. This research explores the experiences of nonprofit board members who have recently participated in the selection process for executive leadership. This study addresses the following research question: What are the drivers and barriers of nonprofit board members in the selection of nonprofit executive leadership? The study uses a generic qualitative research inquiry design. The study's target population includes board members from nonprofit organizations in Indiana that replaced nonprofit executives within the past year. An online survey is used to collect the data, which is then analyzed using thematic analysis. The findings of the study identify eight overarching themes as either drivers or barriers. The drivers include (a) candidate meeting criteria for CEO selection, (b) desirable CEO candidate characteristics in comparison to the previous CEO, (c) emphasis on CEO selection and transition process, (d) utilization of an executive search firm in CEO selection, (e) desired technology competencies in CEO candidates, and (f) sufficient organizational technology usage; the barriers include (g) lack of planning process for "C-level" executives and (h) lack of development of a pipeline of potential CEO successors. In the future, quantitative research on the topic could be conducted to generalize the findings