Accountability and legitimacy of non‐profit organisations: Challenging the current status quo and identifying avenues for future research

Issues of accountability, legitimacy and trust have remained at the forefront of debate surrounding non‐profit organisations and their activities. The purpose of this study is to review the literature on non‐profit accountability from the lens of organisational legitimacy. Specifically, we ask what we can learn from the literature on non‐profit organisation (NPO) accountability and consider what further work needs to be done to strengthen NPO legitimacy. We attempt to go beyond mere gap‐spotting and seek to challenge the current status quo within this body of literature.