Building Collaboration: Examining the Relationship between Collaborative Processes and Activities

Abstract This study investigates if the collaborative process differs among a group of public programs involved in varying levels of interorganizational activities. Thomson and Perry (2006) suggest five process dimensions underlie collaboration: governance, administration, norms of trust, mutuality, and organizational autonomy. While these dimensions are clearly unique, it is unclear if any of these dimensions are necessary or sufficient for varying degrees of interorganizational involvement. Inventorying the interorganizational activities of pairs of government-funded preschools as ranging along a continuum of no relationship, cooperation, coordination, and collaboration, I conduct a qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) to assess the relationship between collaborative processes and activities. The findings suggest that the collaborative processes dimensions differ depending on the level of involvement. The QCA results also reveal substitutable combinations of process dimensions that underlie respective degrees of interorganizational involvement, offering insight to public managers about different skill sets they can focus on when managing interorganizational activities.