Learning behaviors and psychological safety in nonprofit organization boards of directors: An exploratory study

This study explores two constructs that have been shown to be critical to team effectiveness---group Learning Behaviors and Psychological Safety (Edmondson, 1999)---in the context of interactions among members of nonprofit boards of directors, thus contributing to empirical knowledge about board effectiveness. Key nonprofit governance best practices of directors' Access to Information, clear Roles and Responsibilities, and Board Composition together with board Learning Behaviors and Psychological Safety form a Board Learning Framework. All five constructs are explored and inferences regarding the relative influence of each on board Learning Behaviors and Psychological Safety are made.; Based on Board Questionnaire results and critical incident interview data with the board members of six nonprofit organization boards of directors, the results demonstrate that (a) Nonprofit boards of directors engage in group Learning Behaviors and experience Psychological Safety and that the two constructs are related; (b) Board structures of Roles and Responsibilities, Access to Information, and Board Composition are highly correlated with Learning Behaviors and Psychological Safety; (c) Roles and Responsibilities is the variable with the strongest predictive capability of Learning Behaviors measured in this study; (d) Psychological Safety is a significant predictor of board Learning Behaviors, but is second to the predictive power of Roles and Responsibilities in accounting for variance in Learning Behaviors; (e) Learning Behaviors is the most important predictor variable for Psychological Safety as measured in this study; (f) Access to Information is a significant predictor of Psychological Safety, yet it is second to Learning Behaviors in accounting for variance in Psychological Safety; (g) Status and Shared World View appear to be key themes associated with psychological safety in boards of directors; (h) Polite and Professional and Consensus are the most compelling themes associated with board learning behaviors, and, finally (i) performance related outcomes do not appear to be associated by board members with either the presence of psychological safety or demonstration of learning behaviors, but rather are linked to board interpersonal relations, board process, and perceptions of board climate.