How Are We Doing? A Multiple Constituency Approach to Civic Association Effectiveness

Abstract

Increased citizen participation in policy processes through voluntary civic associations warrants an analysis of their effectiveness, which this article undertakes using a multiple constituency framework. We find a gap in the literature on nonprofit effectiveness where theoretical and empirical studies have mainly focused on organizations that directly provide tangible goods and services. We propose a multiple constituency approach to evaluate and understand the implications for assessing the organizational effectiveness of community-based advisory civic associations. We empirically analyze the evaluation of Los Angeles neighborhood councils by three different constituency groups—citizen participants, street-level bureaucrats, and city council staffs. We find that the effectiveness ratings of the constituency groups are dissimilar on different dimensions of effectiveness. These findings suggest that the multiple constituency framework holds theoretical and practical value for understanding the organizational effectiveness of voluntary associations, where the different goals of various stakeholders lead to different views on effectiveness.