Nonprofit boards are responsible for hiring executives, but may approach the task with limited guidance or experience. Evidence of a board's leadership during a transition is found in their recruitment job ad or the announcement they make about the new executive's appointment. Yet, we have limited empirical evidence of what happens behind closed doors as a transition is initiated and decisions are made. This study implemented a paired survey approach among a group of 94 organizational cases and their board members who recently were involved in a nonprofit executive transition. An initial survey was distributed when the board was in the midst or recently emerged from a transition, and a follow‐up was distributed a year later. Taken together, this descriptive, exploratory study offers insights about how boards face the daunting task of a leadership transition, including what boards prioritize for a transition's outcome and executive recruits, the reasons for the approach they take in fulfilling this governance responsibility, and the outcomes derived from the transition. The findings inform propositions to advance research on board governance at this critical juncture for nonprofits.

中文翻译：

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没有失败的余地：调查非营利组织高管过渡中的董事会领导

非营利组织董事会负责招聘高管，但可能在有限的指导或经验下完成任务。可以在他们的招聘广告或有关任命新高管的公告中找到董事会在过渡期间领导层的证据。但是，对于过渡开始和做出决策时，闭门造车背后发生的事情，我们的经验证据有限。这项研究对94个组织案例及其最近参与非营利组织高管过渡的董事会成员实施了配对调查方法。当董事会处于过渡期或刚从过渡期出来时，便进行了初步调查，并于一年后进行了后续调查。总而言之，这是描述性的，探索性研究提供了有关董事会如何面对领导层过渡的艰巨任务的见解，包括哪些董事会优先考虑过渡成果和高级管理人员，他们履行此治理职责的方法的原因以及过渡产生的结果。这些发现为在非营利组织的关键时刻推进有关董事会治理的研究提出了建议。