Boards of directors in nonprofit organizations do they follow a life-cycle model?

In this study the authors used data from a survey of Canadian nonprofit organizations to empirically test hypotheses derived from models of nonprofit board “life cycles.” The authors suggest that while formal structural elements of board behavior change in the manner suggested by life-cycle models, the more enacted or behavioral aspects of nonprofit boards do not. The data further suggest caution in the use of life-cycle or age-dependent models to either explain or guide nonprofit board behavior.