Theoretical considerations on corporate governance in the third sector in the agency theory perspective

Abstract

This article presents a literature review on corporate governance of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) using the agency theory approach, especially aligned to the context of the Brazilian third sector, considering NGO (agent) contracting by the donor (principal) for sponsored projects development. The aim is to understand the relationship between NGOs and donors and contribute to the development of future research. The fundamentals of agency theory are often incompletely addressed by overlapping corporate governance with the context of the third sector. The assumptions and concepts of agency theory were extrapolated for the Brazilian third sector. As a result, it is possible to say that the mismatch of planning horizons between the principal (donor) and agent (NGO) occurs inversely when comparing the phenomenon in the third sector with the general rule observed in business organizations. Also, the study identified that there are agency costs related to residual losses in the third sector, originating problems of property agency versus property management. The structuring of corporate governance in the third sector from the agency theory perspective allowed the formulation of relations that complement the generalities of the theory, contributing to better understand its application and to propose a research agenda.