IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/policy/v47y2014i1p3-24.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The effects of boundary spanners on trust and performance of urban governance networks: findings from survey research on urban development projects in the Netherlands

Author

Listed:
  • Ingmar Meerkerk
  • Jurian Edelenbos

Abstract

Previous research has extensively analyzed the role, and indicated the importance, of network management for the functioning and performance of public or governance networks. In this article, we focus on the influence of boundary spanning actors in such networks—an aspect less examined in the governance network literature. Boundary spanners are considered to be important for governance network performance. Building on the literature, we expect a mediating role of trust in this relationship. To empirically test these relationships, we conducted survey research (N = 141) among project managers involved in urban governance networks: networks around complex urban projects that include the organizations involved in the governance process (the formulation of policies, decision making, and implementation) in these complex projects. We found a strong positive relationship between the presence of boundary spanners and trust and governance network performance. The results indicate a partially mediating role of trust in this relationship. Furthermore, we found that these boundary spanners originated mainly from private and societal organizations, and less from governmental organizations. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media New York 2014

Suggested Citation

  • Ingmar Meerkerk & Jurian Edelenbos, 2014. "The effects of boundary spanners on trust and performance of urban governance networks: findings from survey research on urban development projects in the Netherlands," Policy Sciences, Springer;Society of Policy Sciences, vol. 47(1), pages 3-24, March.
  • Handle: RePEc:kap:policy:v:47:y:2014:i:1:p:3-24
    DOI: 10.1007/s11077-013-9181-2
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s11077-013-9181-2
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11077-013-9181-2?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Lee Fleming & David M. Waguespack, 2007. "Brokerage, Boundary Spanning, and Leadership in Open Innovation Communities," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 18(2), pages 165-180, April.
    2. Asanga Gunawansa & Lovleen Bhullar (ed.), 2013. "Water Governance," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 14957.
    3. Erik-Hans Klijn & Geert R. Teisman, 2003. "Institutional and Strategic Barriers to Public—Private Partnership: An Analysis of Dutch Cases," Public Money & Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(3), pages 137-146, July.
    4. Kristine Kern & Harriet Bulkeley, 2009. "Cities, Europeanization and Multi‐level Governance: Governing Climate Change through Transnational Municipal Networks," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(2), pages 309-332, March.
    5. Erik-Hans Klijn, 2008. "Governance and Governance Networks in Europe," Public Management Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 10(4), pages 505-525, July.
    6. repec:bla:jcmkts:v:47:y:2009:i::p:309-332 is not listed on IDEAS
    7. Fuchs, Erica R.H., 2010. "Rethinking the role of the state in technology development: DARPA and the case for embedded network governance," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(9), pages 1133-1147, November.
    8. Vincenzo Perrone & Akbar Zaheer & Bill McEvily, 2003. "Free to Be Trusted? Organizational Constraints on Trust in Boundary Spanners," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 14(4), pages 422-439, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Lena Brogaard, 2021. "Innovative outcomes in public-private innovation partnerships: a systematic review of empirical evidence and current challenges," Public Management Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(1), pages 135-157, January.
    2. Ren Ze & Zhan Kun & Francis Boadu & Liu Yu, 2018. "The Effects of Boundary-Spanning Search, Network Ties, and Absorptive Capacity for Innovation: A Moderated Mediation Examination," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-18, October.
    3. Palomo-Navarro, Álvaro & Navío-Marco, Julio, 2018. "Smart city networks' governance: The Spanish smart city network case study," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 42(10), pages 872-880.
    4. Ingmar van Meerkerk & Jurian Edelenbos & Erik-Hans Klijn, 2015. "Connective management and governance network performance: the mediating role of throughput legitimacy. Findings from survey research on complex water projects in the Netherlands," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 33(4), pages 746-764, August.
    5. Maria Schiller, 2022. "Urban planners as boundary spanners: Steering perceptions of asylum seeker accommodations in Germany," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 40(3), pages 763-778, May.
    6. Boaventura, Joao Mauricio & Carnaúba, A.A.C. & Todeva, Emanuela & Azevedo, A.C. & Armando, Eduardo, 2016. "Governance Structures and Trust: a Study of Real Estate Networks," MPRA Paper 76785, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    7. Gema Lobillo Mora & Xavier Ginesta & Jordi de San Eugenio Vela, 2021. "Corporate Social Responsibility and Football Clubs: The Value of Environmental Sustainability as a Basis for the Rebranding of Real Betis Balompié in Spain," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(24), pages 1-16, December.
    8. Elin Marianne Smith & Anna Thomasson, 2018. "The Use of the Partnering Concept for Public–Private Collaboration: How Well Does it Really Work?," Public Organization Review, Springer, vol. 18(2), pages 191-206, June.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Skokic, Vlatka & Coh, Marko, 2017. "How do executive search firms increase interest in career opportunities? The role of past interactions," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 35(4), pages 505-513.
    2. Andreas P. J. Schotter & Ram Mudambi & Yves L. Doz & Ajai Gaur, 2017. "Boundary Spanning in Global Organizations," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(4), pages 403-421, June.
    3. Thomas Hoppe & Michiel Miedema, 2020. "A Governance Approach to Regional Energy Transition: Meaning, Conceptualization and Practice," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(3), pages 1-28, January.
    4. Anna Comacchio & Sara Bonesso & Claudio Pizzi, 2012. "Boundary spanning between industry and university: the role of Technology Transfer Centres," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 37(6), pages 943-966, December.
    5. Hemang Subramanian & Sabyasachi Mitra & Sam Ransbotham, 2021. "Capturing Value in Platform Business Models That Rely on User-Generated Content," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 32(3), pages 804-823, May.
    6. Naoki FUJIWARA, 2019. "International City Network and Public-Private Cooperation Japanese Public Water Services’ Overseas Expansion," CIRIEC Working Papers 1909, CIRIEC - Université de Liège.
    7. Li, Mingxiang, 2021. "Exploring novel technologies through board interlocks: Spillover vs. broad exploration," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 50(9).
    8. Anil K. Gupta & Paul E. Tesluk & M. Susan Taylor, 2007. "Innovation At and Across Multiple Levels of Analysis," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 18(6), pages 885-897, December.
    9. Cannavale, Chiara & Esempio, Anna & Ferretti, Marco, 2021. "Up- and down- alliances: A systematic literature review," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 30(5).
    10. Fandel, Günter & Giese, Anke & Mohn, Brigitte, 2012. "Measuring synergy effects of a Public Social Private Partnership (PSPP) project," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 140(2), pages 815-824.
    11. Wu, Zhaohui & Steward, Michelle D. & Hartley, Janet L., 2010. "Wearing many hats: Supply managers' behavioral complexity and its impact on supplier relationships," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 63(8), pages 817-823, August.
    12. Sébastien Gand & Elvira Periac, 2015. "Vers des écosystèmes de services gérontologiques ?," Post-Print hal-01164391, HAL.
    13. Vincent Wretling & Berit Balfors, 2021. "Building Institutional Capacity to Plan for Climate Neutrality: The Role of Local Co-Operation and Inter-Municipal Networks at the Regional Level," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-19, February.
    14. Tim Benijts, 2014. "A Business Sustainability Model for Government Corporations. A Belgian Case Study," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 23(3), pages 204-216, March.
    15. Antje Otto & Kristine Kern & Wolfgang Haupt & Peter Eckersley & Annegret H. Thieken, 2021. "Ranking local climate policy: assessing the mitigation and adaptation activities of 104 German cities," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 167(1), pages 1-23, July.
    16. Kristine Kern & Janne Irmisch & Colette Odermatt & Wolfgang Haupt & Ingrid Kissling-Näf, 2021. "Cultural Heritage, Sustainable Development, and Climate Policy: Comparing the UNESCO World Heritage Cities of Potsdam and Bern," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(16), pages 1-19, August.
    17. Mai, Nhat Chi, 2016. "A Development Process of PPP Scheme for Infrastructure Projects in Vietnam," OSF Preprints g3e4u, Center for Open Science.
    18. Boeing, Philipp & Wang, Yihan, 2021. "Decoding China's Covid-19 "virus exceptionalism": Community-based digital contact tracing in Wuhan," ZEW Discussion Papers 21-028, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    19. Galaz, Victor & Crona, Beatrice & Österblom, Henrik & Olsson, Per & Folke, Carl, 2012. "Polycentric systems and interacting planetary boundaries — Emerging governance of climate change–ocean acidification–marine biodiversity," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 21-32.
    20. Myra Sader & Barthélemy Chollet & Sébastien Brion & Olivier Trendel, 2021. "Supported, detached, or marginalized? The ambivalent role of social capital on stress at work," Post-Print hal-03167159, HAL.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:policy:v:47:y:2014:i:1:p:3-24. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.