The Board Chair and Executive Director Dyad: Leadership Role Perceptions Within Nonprofit Civic Engagement Organizations

Abstract

Scholarship has identified that board and executive director leadership consists of dynamic interactions and enactments; however, limited research has examined the board chair and executive director leadership dyad within explicit organizational contexts. The purpose of this study was to understand how board chairs and executive directors perceived their roles within leadership dyads of nonprofit civic engagement organizations. Civic engagement organizations are recognized by municipalities for representing and engaging neighborhood constituencies through participatory processes. This inquiry also determined how leadership role perceptions varied as a function of dyadic position and according to individual, organizational, and environmental characteristics. The research was structured as an instrumental multiple case study analysis of 17 board chair and executive director dyads of neighborhood councils within a municipal civic participation system. The study’s findings indicated that executive directors and board chairs reported diverse leadership perceptions and varying accounts of inter-dyadic role congruence, ambiguity, and conflict. Specifically, leadership role perceptions varied within dyads and according to dyadic position. Board chairs and executive directors interpreted their leadership roles as facilitating participatory processes, organizing communities, and representing neighborhood constituents. Further, the majority of participants characterized leadership as situational and noted the importance of assessing circumstances to determine leadership needs. The findings underscore the complexity of nonprofit leadership and reveal latent influences of organizational fields on board chairs’ and executive directors’ dyadic leadership role perceptions. This exploratory qualitative study concludes with suggestions to enhance board chair and executive director dynamics within civic engagement organizations. Recommendations for future research are provided to advance human resource development research concerning nonprofit organizational leadership. Keywords: board chair, executive director, leadership, dyad, role perception, nonprofit organization, civic engagement, neighborhood council, human resource development, instrumental multiple case study, qualitative research, role theory