Governance of a public sector joint venture: the control challenges of dominated owners

ABSTRACT

Local governments increasingly choose to provide a wide range of services through cooperation with other local governments. Providing complex services through intergovernmental units creates collaboration risks and collective action dilemmas that need to be mitigated. Based on a longitudinal case study, an investigation is made into the dynamic processes in the governance of a public sector joint venture (JV) and the control challenges of dominated owners. The findings illustrate that the approach to mitigating collective action dilemmas is far less rational than that prescribed by the normative literature, resulting in control challenges at later stages in the relationship. Limitations in the assessment of collaboration risks are explained by drawing on resource dependence theory (RDT) arguments. Dynamic processes in the JV relationship create the need to adjust the governance system. However, adaptability is constrained by power asymmetry and control complexity.

KEYWORDS:

• Governance
• intermunicipal cooperation
• joint venture
• institutional collective action
• resource dependency
• dynamics

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. The number of standby teams required in a municipality’s fire brigade is regulated by certain thresholds of inhabitants.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Marthe Liss Holum

Marthe Liss Holum is a Ph.D. candidate at Trondheim Business School, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU). She earned a M.Sc. in business economics in 2013. Her research interests are within public management and public administration, specifically different types of governance in the municipal sector. Holum has recently authored articles in International Review of Administrative Sciences and International Journal of Public Administration.