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Open research questions in Nonprofit Sector and Volunteering

316 unresolved questions extracted from the limitations and future-work sections of 3,625 Nonprofit Sector and Volunteering papers in our library. Each links back to the study that raised it.

What the literature leaves open

  • We have some baseline information about the volunteers, but what will happen to them over time? Will Medicare and other third party payers shape the complexion of volunteerism? How will volunteers be used as hospice ex­ pands services and becomes increasingly competitive? Will external economic factors such as changes in employment op­ portunities impact hospice volunteerism? These arc a few of the critical questions warranting further research.

    Hospice Volunteers: The Impact of Personality Characteristics on Retention and Job Performance · 1987 · DOI

  • tn addition, the two cost factors warrant further study because there has been little research on costs and little conceptualization on types of costs.

    Who participates, who does not, and why? An analysis of voluntary neighborhood organizations in the United States and Israel · 1987 · DOI

  • Further research could examine the robustness of servant leadership in other regional contexts - Investigate the mechanisms by which servant leadership influences team climate and project success - Explore the potential moderators of the servant leadership-project success relationship

    Cross-Regional Robustness of Servant Leadership in NGOs: Evidence from Latin America and Africa · 2026 · DOI

  • There is limited systematic evidence on whether the relationships between servant leadership, team processes, and project success remain similar across regional NGO contexts. The study aims to address this gap by examining the cross-regional robustness of servant leadership in NGOs in Latin America and Africa.

    Cross-Regional Robustness of Servant Leadership in NGOs: Evidence from Latin America and Africa · 2026 · DOI

  • The difficulty in defining and identifying informal volunteering. The persistent bias toward formal volunteering in the volunteering literature. The need for a framework that can analyze different forms of volunteering through a shared analytical lens.

    What Volunteers Do: Toward a Task-Centered Framework for Recognizing Informal Volunteering · 2026 · DOI

  • The underrecognition of informal volunteering in research and public discourse. The lack of a shared unit of analysis across formal and informal volunteering. The need for a framework that includes recipients of volunteering and emphasizes tasks and needs.

    What Volunteers Do: Toward a Task-Centered Framework for Recognizing Informal Volunteering · 2026 · DOI

  • Benchmarks often fail to account for institutional mission, programme maturity, or return-on-investment (ROI) expectations. There is a lack of understanding of how to calibrate ratios to context, rather than relying on copy-and-paste approaches.

    Building smarter advancement teams: A formula for strategic staffing ratios across diverse institutions · 2026 · DOI

  • In addition to published benchmarking studies, this analysis was informed by internal, unpublished staffing data collected through the Size and Shape project at the University of Cambridge. These data were shared in confidence or as part of EAB membership and are not available for public release. While they cannot be independently verified, they provided valuable context for triangulating sector benchmarks and highlighting institutional disparities in staffing ratios. It also appears that the benchmarks on fundraising ROI are well developed, the ROI for alumni engagement remains less clearly defined, and further research is needed to mature our understanding of how staffing in this area translates into long-term philanthropic outcomes.

    Building smarter advancement teams: A formula for strategic staffing ratios across diverse institutions · 2026 · DOI

  • The study addresses critical gaps in cross-cultural philanthropy research. It highlights the importance of considering institutional contexts in fundraising.

    Donor Motivation and Civil Society Regimes from a Cross-Cultural and Institutional Perspective · 2026 · DOI

  • Despite its contributions, this study has several limitations. First, data were collected through self-reported surveys, which may be subject to social desirability bias. Second, although cultural contexts were considered in interpreting findings, key cultural values such as collectivism and individualism were not directly measured, limiting explanatory power. Additionally, survey mode bias likely led to under-representation of wealthy respondents, and annual income may not fully reflect financial standing. Third, differences in data collection methods, with online surveys in the US and telephone interviews in Taiwan, as well as variations in questionnaire word- ing, may have introduced measurement inconsistencies and excluded marginalized groups without internet or telephone access. While both surveys were conducted in December 2022, minimizing acute pandemic effects, longer-term shifts in charitable behavior from COVID-19 may still influence cross-national comparisons.

    Donor Motivation and Civil Society Regimes from a Cross-Cultural and Institutional Perspective · 2026 · DOI

  • The study identifies a gap in the literature on the effectiveness of volunteer recruitment and selection processes in NGOs. The study highlights the need for structured recruitment and selection processes in NGOs.

    A Study on Recruitment and Selection Practices of Volunteers at Siddarth Rasi Foundation · 2026 · DOI

  • There is a need to understand the reality of volunteer work in local communities from the perspective of volunteer leaders. The study aims to fill this gap by investigating the factors that influence volunteer leaders' tendencies towards volunteering work.

    The Reality of Volunteer Work in Local Communities from the Perspective of Volunteer Leaders in Al-Balqa Governorate: A Sociological Study · 2026 · DOI

  • 1 - 2026Journal of the Social Sciences with a recommendation to conduct further research on individual factors regarding leadership orientations that aim to enhance volunteering culture, the provision of financial aid, and the introcuction of adequate training to develop leadership skills.

    The Reality of Volunteer Work in Local Communities from the Perspective of Volunteer Leaders in Al-Balqa Governorate: A Sociological Study · 2026 · DOI

  • The limited understanding of the mechanisms underlying the relationship between authentic leadership and extra-role helping behavior. The need to investigate the mediating role of gratitude and the moderating effects of self-concept clarity and leader status.

    Lighting Up the Heart of Gratitude: A Social Exchange Perspective on the Relationship between Authentic Leadership and Helping Behavior · 2026 · DOI

  • The paper identifies a gap in understanding the impact of restrictive European migration policies on civil sea rescue organizations and their volunteers.

    Aktivistisches Engagement · 2026 · DOI

  • The study identifies a gap in understanding the connection between fraud reporting and organizational demise in nonprofits. The research highlights the need to examine the role of governance structures during crises.

    Nonprofit Fraud and Organizational Demise: The Role of Governance in Times of Crisis · 2026 · DOI

  • Future re- search should triangulate Form 990 with press reports, litigation records, administrative enforcement data, and surveys to detect under-reported fraud, and examine how gover- nance mechanisms interact with institutional context (regulatory intensity, disclosure de- sign, funding mix) to shape nonprofit longevity.

    Nonprofit Fraud and Organizational Demise: The Role of Governance in Times of Crisis · 2026 · DOI

  • The single-country focus is a limitation. The qualitative design's limited statistical generalizability is a limitation. Potential recall or self-presentation bias is a limitation.

    Normalizing Sponsorship: The Unspoken Pathways to Advancement in High-Tech · 2026 · DOI

  • Several avenues remain open. First, longitudinal or quasi-experimental designs could track whether teams adopting routines show the proposed measurable changes in referral diversity, promotion equity and perceived fairness over time. Second, cross-cultural comparison, particularly between network-dense cultures such as Israel and more institution-reliant labor markets, would clarify boundary conditions on which routines transfer. Third, intersectional analysis exploring how sponsorship dynamics vary at the intersection of gender, ethnicity and seniority would deepen the present account. Fourth, future work might examine role differences in sponsorship behavior, comparing the advocacy practices of engineering managers, HR leaders and external recruiters in more controlled designs. Fifth, intervention studies that implement specific normalization routines (sponsor minutes, referral-equity scripts) and measure outcomes over several promotion cycles would provide the causal evidence that the present cross-sectional design cannot supply.

    Normalizing Sponsorship: The Unspoken Pathways to Advancement in High-Tech · 2026 · DOI

  • The study identifies a gap in the understanding of the factors influencing the participation of NGOs in social marketing practices. The study also identifies a gap in the understanding of the benefits and challenges of social marketing practices in terms of NGOs' role in child welfare.

    Strategic Partnerships in Social Marketing: A Qualitative Study of NGOs-Company Collaborations in Practices for Child Welfare in Türkiye · 2026 · DOI

  • Pfeffer, J., & Salancik, G. R. (1978). perspective . Harper & Row. Pfeffer, J., & Salancik, G. R. (2003). The external control of organizations: A resource dependence . Sage. The external control of organizations: A resource dependence . Stanford University.

    Strategic Partnerships in Social Marketing: A Qualitative Study of NGOs-Company Collaborations in Practices for Child Welfare in Türkiye · 2026 · DOI

  • Future research should explore the affiliative dimension in more depth. Future research should examine the implications of the affiliative dimension for nonprofit practice. Future research should investigate the relationship between the affiliative dimension and other dimensions of the nonprofit sector.

    Beyond the Expressive and Instrumental: Reclaiming the Nonprofit Sector's Affiliative · 2026 · DOI

  • The existing typology of leadership challenges does not fully capture the complexity of the issues faced by nonprofits and their leaders. There is a need to refine the typology and further its use as a tool for research and practitioners.

    Nonprofit Leadership Challenges: Refining a Typology of Issues Faced by Nonprofits and Their Leaders · 2026 · DOI

  • The study used a specific charity allocation task, which may not generalize to other domains. The study had a limited sample size (N=879). The study did not investigate the long-term effects of LLM facilitation.

    Real-Time Group Dynamics with LLM Facilitation: Evidence from a Charity Allocation Task · 2026 · DOI

  • Future research should investigate the long-term effects of LLM facilitation on collective decision making. Future research should explore the use of LLM facilitation in other domains and tasks. Future research should develop more nuanced evaluation metrics for conversational AI systems in group settings.

    Real-Time Group Dynamics with LLM Facilitation: Evidence from a Charity Allocation Task · 2026 · DOI

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316 open questions have been extracted from the limitations and future-work passages of 3,625 Nonprofit Sector and Volunteering papers in our library. Each one below links back to the study that raised it, so you can read the original claim in context.

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