IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/plo/pone00/0260053.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Physical activity promotion in an urban district: Analyzing the mechanisms of interorganizational cooperation

Author

Listed:
  • Hagen Wäsche
  • Laura Wolbring
  • Alexander Woll

Abstract

Past research has identified the importance of cooperation among community-based organizations from different sectors to address public health problems such as insufficient physical activity. However, little is known about how and why interorganizational cooperation occurs. The present study sought to analyze the structure and emergent patterns of interorganizational cooperation within a network promoting physical activity based in an urban district neighborhood of a city in Southwestern Germany. Survey data on cooperative relations among 61 network organizations and organizational attributes (e.g., possession of sport facilities) were collected. Social network analysis was applied to examine network properties and exponential random graph models were estimated to test hypotheses concerning mechanisms and conditions of cooperative tie formation. The results show that the network of cooperation is sparse but characterized by a tendency for cooperation to occur in triangular structures. Other significant mechanisms of cooperative tie formation are preferential attachment, with the community department for education and sports being the most central network actor, and heterophily regarding the cooperation of organizations from different sectors. This study provides valid and reliable findings on conditions of network formation and significant mechanisms of interorganizational cooperation in the field of physical activity promotion. Knowledge about these mechanisms can help to manage networks effectively and efficiently and reveal potentials for improvement and intensification of interorganizational cooperation in both the present and other research areas of health promotion.

Suggested Citation

  • Hagen Wäsche & Laura Wolbring & Alexander Woll, 2021. "Physical activity promotion in an urban district: Analyzing the mechanisms of interorganizational cooperation," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 16(11), pages 1-18, November.
  • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0260053
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0260053
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0260053
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0260053&type=printable
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1371/journal.pone.0260053?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
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Hagen Wäsche, 2015. "Interorganizational cooperation in sport tourism: A social network analysis," Sport Management Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 18(4), pages 542-554, October.
    2. Katie Rowe & David Shilbury & Lesley Ferkins & Erica Hinckson, 2013. "Sport development and physical activity promotion: An integrated model to enhance collaboration and understanding," Sport Management Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 16(3), pages 364-377, July.
    3. Valente, T.W. & Fujimoto, K. & Palmer, P. & Tanjasiri, S.P., 2010. "A network assessment of community-based participatory research: Linking communities and universities to reduce cancer disparities," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 100(7), pages 1319-1325.
    4. Valente, T.W. & Chich, P.C. & Pentz, M.A., 2007. "Community coalitions as a system: Effects of network change on adoption of evidence-based substance abuse prevention," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 97(5), pages 880-886.
    5. Schoen, Martin W. & Moreland-Russell, Sarah & Prewitt, Kim & Carothers, Bobbi J., 2014. "Social network analysis of public health programs to measure partnership," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 123(C), pages 90-95.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Schoen, Martin W. & Moreland-Russell, Sarah & Prewitt, Kim & Carothers, Bobbi J., 2014. "Social network analysis of public health programs to measure partnership," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 123(C), pages 90-95.
    2. Han, Lu & Koenig-Archibugi, Mathias & Opsahl, Tore, 2018. "The social network of international health aid," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 206(C), pages 67-74.
    3. Rowe, Katie & Sherry, Emma & Osborne, Angela, 2018. "Recruiting and retaining girls in table tennis: Participant and club perspectives," Sport Management Review, Elsevier, vol. 21(5), pages 504-518.
    4. Patterson, Megan S. & Prochnow, Tyler & Richardson, Ryan G. & Jackson, Kevin P., 2020. "Using network analysis to conduct a system-wide program evaluation within a university," Evaluation and Program Planning, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    5. Chen T & Lu N & White AM & He H & Wu P & Hui J & Feng C & Tu XM & Zhang H & Kowalski J, 2016. "Social Network: A New Paradigm for Modeling Human Interaction: Implications for Statistical Inferences," Biostatistics and Biometrics Open Access Journal, Juniper Publishers Inc., vol. 1(1), pages 1-6, September.
    6. Haapanen, Krista A. & Christens, Brian D. & Cooper, Daniel G. & Jurinsky, Jordan, 2024. "Alliance-building for equity and justice: An inter-organizational perspective," Evaluation and Program Planning, Elsevier, vol. 102(C).
    7. Mei-Jung Chen & Wen-Bin Lin & Shao-Wei Yeh & Mei-Yen Chen, 2021. "Constructing Sports Promotion Models for an Accessibility and Efficiency Analysis of City Governments," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(16), pages 1-15, August.
    8. Ruth Hamilton & Alasdair Rae, 2020. "Regions from the ground up: a network partitioning approach to regional delineation," Environment and Planning B, , vol. 47(5), pages 775-789, June.
    9. C. M. Straw & B. P. McCullough & C. Segars & B. Daher & M. S. Patterson, 2022. "Reimagining Sustainable Community Sports Fields of the Future: a Framework for Convergent Science-Stakeholder Decision-Making," Circular Economy and Sustainability, Springer, vol. 2(3), pages 1267-1277, September.
    10. Sato, Mikihiro & Jordan, Jeremy S. & Funk, Daniel C., 2016. "A distance-running event and life satisfaction: The mediating roles of involvement," Sport Management Review, Elsevier, vol. 19(5), pages 536-549.
    11. Kumar, Harish & Manoli, Argyro Elisavet & Hodgkinson, Ian R. & Downward, Paul, 2018. "Sport participation: From policy, through facilities, to users’ health, well-being, and social capital," Sport Management Review, Elsevier, vol. 21(5), pages 549-562.
    12. Pagliccia, Nino & Spiegel, Jerry & Alegret, Milagros & Bonet, Mariano & Martinez, Barbara & Yassi, Annalee, 2010. "Network analysis as a tool to assess the intersectoral management of health determinants at the local level: A report from an exploratory study of two Cuban municipalities," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 71(2), pages 394-399, July.
    13. Mascia, Daniele & Dandi, Roberto & Di Vincenzo, Fausto, 2014. "Professional networks and EBM use: A study of inter-physician interaction across levels of care," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 118(1), pages 24-36.
    14. Fausto Di Vincenzo & Daniele Mascia & Dino Numerato & Domenico Salvatore, 2014. "Le reti sociali e i professionisti in sanit?: una review della letteratura," MECOSAN, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2014(89), pages 71-84.
    15. Lamont, Matthew & Kennelly, Millicent, 2019. "Sporting hyperchallenges: Health, social, and fiscal implications," Sport Management Review, Elsevier, vol. 22(1), pages 68-79.
    16. Anderson, Arden & Dixon, Marlene A. & Oshiro, Kristi F. & Wicker, Pamela & Cunningham, George B. & Heere, Bob, 2019. "Managerial perceptions of factors affecting the design and delivery of sport for health programs for refugee populations," Sport Management Review, Elsevier, vol. 22(1), pages 80-95.
    17. Rosario Fernández-Peña & José Luis Molina & Oliver Valero, 2018. "Personal Network Analysis in the Study of Social Support: The Case of Chronic Pain," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(12), pages 1-18, November.
    18. Aizawa, Kurumi & Wu, Ji & Inoue, Yuhei & Sato, Mikihiro, 2018. "Long-term impact of the Tokyo 1964 Olympic Games on sport participation: A cohort analysis," Sport Management Review, Elsevier, vol. 21(1), pages 86-97.
    19. Christine A. Bevc & Jessica H. Retrum & Danielle M. Varda, 2015. "Patterns in PARTNERing across Public Health Collaboratives," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 12(10), pages 1-14, October.
    20. Aoife De Brún & Eilish McAuliffe, 2018. "Social Network Analysis as a Methodological Approach to Explore Health Systems: A Case Study Exploring Support among Senior Managers/Executives in a Hospital Network," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(3), pages 1-11, March.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:plo:pone00:0260053. 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: plosone (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/ .

    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.