Cross-sector collaboration formality: the effects of institutions and organizational leaders

ABSTRACT

This research examines collaboration formality as a function of institutional characteristics of organizations as well as personal characteristics of their leaders, in a non-Western context. Using a dataset of local governments and non-profits in Lebanon, we find organizations characterized by resource insufficiency and large staff size, and whose leaders have experience in the other sector to be motivated to use formal arrangements in cross-sectoral collaboration; those with female leaders opt for informal arrangements. A variety of characteristics of both institutions and their leaders affect formality of collaboration arrangements used by local governments and non-profits; yet, these effects exhibit cross-sector heterogeneity.

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KEYWORDS:

• Cross-sector collaboration
• formality
• local governments
• non-profits
• developing context

Disclosure statement

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

Notes

1. The surveys were administered in Arabic, but, for accuracy purposes, the surveys were translated from English to Arabic and then back translated for this study.

2. We are not assessing dyadic relationships or, in other words, collaborations between specific pairs of local governments and non-profits.

3. Although this variable captures a leader’s perception of their organization’s size and not necessarily the count of employees, a leader’s decision to collaborate more formally is also likely based on their perception of their organization’s capacity. Secondary data generally supports these perceptions.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M and American University’s School of Public Affairs’ Excellence with Impact Initiative and Metropolitan Policy Center.

Notes on contributors

Zachary Bauer

Zachary Bauer holds a Ph.D. from the Department of Public Administration and Policy at the American University’s School of Public Affairs. He is a public management scholar focusing on collaboration, contracting and immigration governance, and has published in premier public administration journals. Bauer is an analyst at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

Khaldoun AbouAssi

Khaldoun AbouAssi is associate professor of public administration and policy in the Department of Public Administration and Policy at the American University’s School of Public Affairs. His primary research focuses on public and non-profit management, examining organizational capacity, resources, and inter-organizational relations.

Jocelyn Johnston

Jocelyn Johnston is professor of public administration and policy in the Department of Public Administration and Policy at the American University’s School of Public Affairs. She has published in leading public administration journals on government contracting, cross-boundary service collaboration, and intergovernmental programs. She earned master’s and doctoral degrees in public administration from the Maxwell School at Syracuse University after serving for 10 years as an administrator of intergovernmental programs in county government in New York State.