The influence of planning group diversity on the quality of local strategic plan design

ABSTRACT

As social issues are becoming complex and challenging to solve, governments are increasingly seeking support of diverse planning groups when developing strategic plans. However, there is a lack of empirical evidence on (1) the link between planning group composition and strategic plan design quality and (2) the potential inverted U-shaped relationship of planning group diversity in terms of its scope and size for achieving high-quality strategic plan design. To address these gaps in extant knowledge, we analysed 2005 − 2014 U.S. county governments’ strategic plans on homelessness to identify relationships between diversity in planning group size and scope and strategic plan quality. Our results indicate an inverted U-shaped relationship between planning group diversity and strategic plan design quality, suggesting that strategic plan design benefits from group diversity up to a certain level, after which it becomes counterproductive. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed in relation to the growing recognition of the need for deliberate incorporation of diverse voices and perspectives of key collaborators in strategic planning group composition.

KEYWORDS:

• Strategic planning
• strategic plan design
• group diversity
• collaboration

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Ewha Womans University Research Grant of 2021.

Notes on contributors

Iseul Choi

Iseul Choi is an assistant professor in the School of Public Administration at the University of New Mexico. Her research interests lie at the intersection of public management, organisational behaviour, human resource management, and workforce diversity and inclusion.

Jeongyoon Lee

Jeongyoon Lee is an assistant professor in the Martin School of Public Policy and Administration at University of Kentucky. Her research interests include intersectoral governance networks, distrust, conflict management, and non-profit organisations.

David Lee

David Lee is an assistant professor of public administration at the Ewha Womans University, Seoul, Republic of Korea. His research interests lie in collaborative public management and program evaluation.