Assessing the relationship between board composition and nonprofit hospital financial performance from a multi-theoretic perspective

This dissertation assesses the relationship between board composition and financial performance for the top 71 major nonprofit hospitals in the United States during the period 2004-2009. The underlying data were collected from copies of IRS Form 990 available at http://www.guidestar.org . The dissertation investigates five factors: board size, board independence (percentage of outsiders), number of MDs, CEO succession and CEO compensation. And it evaluates the results within a multi-theoretic framework drawing on agency theory, resource dependence theory, institutional theory and social network theory. Corporate governance literature suggests that board composition has an important impact on firm financial performance. This dissertation examines whether the same may be true for nonprofit hospitals. The results should help hospital executives make better governance decisions during trying economic times.^