Comparing Determinants of Effective Collaboration in a Comprehensive Crime Reduction Initiative

ABSTRACT

Increasingly there is a call from policy makers for communities to work collaboratively to ameliorate social problems; yet, collaborating is arguably one of the most difficult tasks of partnerships. Conceptual frameworks for effective collaboration have recently been developed and need empirical testing. Effective collaboration determinants are explored in this study of a comprehensive crime reduction initiative. Comparative case study methodology is used to examine the presence of these determinants in three arenas: context, structure, and function. Sites were most similar in structure; differences were most pronounced in function. Translating these results in this initiative and across other community partnerships is discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Collaboration
• multi-stakeholder partnerships
• collaboration structure
• collaboration functioning
• environmental context

Funding

Support for this research was provided in part by grants Grant #2005-DB-BX-0014, #2007-DJBX- 0060, #2008-DJ-BX-0715, and 2009-DJ-BX-0104 awarded by BJA through the Massachusetts Executive Office of Public Safety and Security. Points of view in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily represented the official positions of funders.

Notes

^1. Turrini et al. (2010) noted 14 determinants, though for reasons explained in the literature review, “Size and Composition” was dropped from this analysis because the literature is equivocal on its influence on partnership effectiveness.

Additional information

Funding

Support for this research was provided in part by grants Grant #2005-DB-BX-0014, #2007-DJBX- 0060, #2008-DJ-BX-0715, and 2009-DJ-BX-0104 awarded by BJA through the Massachusetts Executive Office of Public Safety and Security. Points of view in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily represented the official positions of funders.