Social Impact & Project Performance Measurement Methods and Challenges in Practice: A Study on Women Empowerment NGOs

Abstract

Objective – This study explores the social impact measurement (SIM) methods and the associated challenges from the perspective of women empowerment NGOs in Turkey. A literature review was conducted regarding the social impact measurement of non-profit organizations, social impact tools and frameworks, challenges of the social impact measurement, and business information systems used in social impact and project performance tools. Methodology – After that, a structured interview was designed and implemented to examine the output, outcome, and social impact measurement processes of 11 women’s empowerment NGOs in Turkey. Findings – Coding of the data and thematic analysis was conducted based on that qualitative research, and extremely insightful findings were revealed. The lack of expertise, budget, human resources, and established processes are significant challenges for women empowerment NGOs in Turkey. Also, the results of this empirical study indicated the need for digital tools and platforms for social impact measurement, which may also be a cost-saving tool enabling knowledge transfer and process efficiency for SIM. Novelty –Together with that, the study provided unique findings that may contribute to the literature, which address some of the SIM challenges caused by funder organizations’ budgeting policies and lack of demand for detailed SIM reports. Type of Paper: Empirical JEL Classification: Q19, Q22 Keywords: Social Impact Measurement; Women Empowerment NGOs; Social Entrepreneurship; Social Impact Evaluation; Non-profit Organizations Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Köroğlu, F; Yıldırım, N. (2023). Social Impact & Project Performance Measurement Methods and Challenges in Practice: A Study on Women Empowerment NGOs, J. Bus. Econ. Review, 7(4), 01–14. https://doi.org/10.35609/jber.2023.7.4(1)