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    Non-profit organisations and stakeholder relationships : assessing digital communication through public relations theory : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Communication in Public Relations at Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2017) Kirkwood, Christine Anne
    This research examines New Zealand non-profit organisations’ (NPOs) use of digital communication channels to assess if digital channels are being used effectively for stakeholder engagement. Qualitative interviews with 20 communication practitioners examined whether/how the NPOs are using multiple digital channels and identified the five most popular digital channels. The interview data was analysed using HyperRESEARCH and the five most popular channels identified overall were websites, e-newsletters, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. Although the participating NPOs are all using multiple digital channels, the communication practitioners could not confidently say the channels achieve the organisation’s goals, or assist with stakeholder engagement and participation. To help assess if the channels are being used strategically and are achieving the organisations’ purposes, a quantitative content analysis of the most popular digital channels of five NPOs was undertaken. The channels’ content was also assessed to identify if the communication practitioners are using public relations theories for dialogic communication, relationship management and stakeholder engagement. Results of the interviews and the content analysis reveal that NPOs are not using their channels strategically, and are not always achieving their desired purpose. The communication approach by the NPOs is scattershot and ad hoc, and evaluation of the communication is limited. To assist NPOs to improve their use of digital channels to build effective stakeholder relationships, recommendations include using public relations theories, building a digital communication strategy, making differentiated use of individual channels – rather than using a one-size-fits all approach – and ensuring evaluation of the digital communication to maintain best practice. This should provide NPOs with evidence of improved stakeholder engagement and relationships.
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    Developing and testing a performance measurement framework for the Australasian nonprofit healthcare sector : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Engineering at Massey University, Manawatu, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2017) Soysa, H Ishani Buddika
    Irrespective of the sector to which an organisation belongs, measuring and monitoring the strategic performance is of paramount importance for survival and growth of the organisation. While the balanced scorecard (BSC) remains the most widely recognised performance measurement (PM) model by the academia and the practitioners, the theoretical validity and generalisability of it for the nonprofit sector remains to be tested via samples. In addition, the technical requirement of strategy maps acts as a deterrent to the uptake of the BSC in the nonprofit sector. In this research, the researcher theorised and empirically validated the nonprofit version of the BSC (nonprofit BSC) using data collected from Australasian healthcare NPOs, using an exploratory sequential mixed methods research platform. First, a conceptual model was developed based on the literature on the BSC and relevant other PM models. Next, the conceptual model was advanced into a causal predictive model (referred to as the main theoretical model in this thesis) using qualitative data collected from senior managers belonging to nine Australasian healthcare NPOs. In keeping the nonprofit BSC, the researcher’s main theoretical model posits that the Mission of the NPO drives its Strategy, which together drives its Financial Health, People, and the Infrastructure to enable the Processes to deliver mission-related outcomes; the mission-related outcomes being represented by Client Satisfaction, People Satisfaction, and Donor Satisfaction. Finally, quantitative data collected from Australian and New Zealand healthcare NPOs, in the form of survey responses (n = 223), were used to test the researcher’s theoretical models, using the partial least squares based structural equation modelling approach. The theoretical and practical contributions of the study are: (a) development of a theoretical model that underpins the nonprofit BSC; (b) operationalisation of the constructs of the model, which in effect, operationalises the nonprofit BSC; and (c) empirical development of an overall organisational performance index linked to an associated scoring system. The theoretical and practical implications of the study (Chapters Six and Eight) include how the main theoretical model can be used to predict and explain successful performance improvement interventions and unsuccessful performance improvement interventions, how an organisation could develop its own performance measures without having to use a strategy map, and general guidelines for performance improvement including how the scoring system can be used for self-assessment. The limitations and future research directions have been outlined in the conclusions chapter.