Self‐Organizing Governance of Local Economic Development: Informal Policy Networks And Regional Institutions

ABSTRACT

Economic development is a policy area where competition tends to be the norm, but it is also one in which cities cooperate through a variety of formal and informal mechanisms. Taking a social network approach, we examine the roles of informal policy networks and regional institutions in strengthening formal collaboration between city governments in economic development. Network relationship data were collected from city governments in the Orlando metropolitan area. We highlight the importance of informal interactions between city governments for collaborative agreements and identify the critical roles that regional institutions can play in moderating the effect of informal relationships on collaborative agreements. The conclusion argues for urban research to pay greater attention to how networks shape collective action among local governments.

Notes

The frequency of interaction through formal agreements includes communication related to the costs or participant contributions to the agreement, communication related to benefits that are generated through collaborative activities, and sharing information related to monitoring the work of the collaborative activities.

Though we cannot completely rule out the potential for respondents to indicate the strength of ties for a formal agreement that preceded informal relations, we attempted to minimize this by noting our key research question—the impact of informal relations on formal agreements—in the cover letter that accompanied the survey instrument.

In a separate model, we used Arc‐GIS to calculate the distance in miles between the centroids of the city governments and added the geographic proximity variable to the model. The coefficient for geographic proximity was not statistically significant, with a p value of .208.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Christopher V. Hawkins

Christopher V. Hawkins is an Associate Professor and Director of the Master of Science in Urban and Regional Planning program in the School of Public Administration at the University of Central Florida. His current research focuses on metropolitan governance, urban politics, local economic development and sustainability policy. His work has been published in Urban Affairs Review, Urban Studies, Public Administration Review, Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, among other scholarly journals. His current work on local sustainability policy is supported by the National Science Foundation.

Qian Hu

Qian Hu is an Assistant Professor in the School of Public Administration at the University of Central Florida. Her research interests include collaborative governance, organizational network studies, policy informatics, and strategic and performance management. Her work has been published or is forthcoming in academic journals such as Public Administration Review, American Review of Public Administration, Public Management Review, Administration and Society, American Behavioral Scientist, Research Policy, and Journal of Public Affairs Education. She teaches public organization management, research methods, and strategic planning and management courses.

Richard C. Feiock

Richard C. Feiock holds the Jerry Collins Eminent Scholar Endowed Chair and is the Augustus B. Turnbull Professor of Public Administration and Policy in the Askew School at Florida State University where he directs of the FSU Local Governance Research Laboratory. He is an elected fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration, serves on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency‘s Board of Scientific Counselors, and is Editor of Public Administration Review, the leading professional journal in public administration. He has published four books and over 220 refereed articles. He has received numerous research and career awards and has been principal investigator on six National Science Foundation research grants.