Non-financial performance measurement in participatory governance: how to measure the different facets of hybridity?

Participatory governance in hybrid organisations, which promotes outward-oriented accountability, has been inherently arranged in a way to include multiple stakeholders’ voices in the decision-making process. However, the ‘hybridity’ of such organisations associated with the dual mission - the pursuit of social and financial values - substantially complicates their performance measurement. Particularly challenging is measuring multiple stakeholders’ participation in the governing process that emerges from the democratic principles being decoupled from the participatory arrangement. In the example of an Italian mutual entity, this chapter sheds light on the consequences arising from the lack of reliable metrics measuring the contribution of customers/owners in mission achievement. Thus, despite the multiple stakeholders’ involvement in the governance process, the participatory arrangement in practice can fail to empower them. In this scenario, the policymakers’ intervention is essential to enhance non-financial accounting and disclosure, and therefore, their accountability.