Designing and Implementing Cross‐Sector Collaborations: Needed<i>and</i>Challenging

TLDR

Collaboration research has expanded rapidly over the past decade, driven in part by the authors’ 2006 article, and studies show that while collaboration is increasingly necessary, it remains complex and challenging. The article reviews recent theoretical frameworks and key empirical findings on cross‑sector collaboration. The authors advocate a dynamic, multilevel systems approach using longitudinal comparative case studies that combine quantitative and qualitative methods. The article summarizes settled conclusions in the field and provides extensive recommendations for future research.

Abstract

Abstract Theoretical and empirical work on collaboration has proliferated in the last decade. The authors’ 2006 article on designing and implementing cross‐sector collaborations was a part of, and helped stimulate, this growth. This article reviews the authors’ and others’ important theoretical frameworks from the last decade, along with key empirical results. Research indicates how complicated and challenging collaboration can be, even though it may be needed now more than ever. The article concludes with a summary of areas in which scholarship offers reasonably settled conclusions and an extensive list of recommendations for future research. The authors favor research that takes a dynamic, multilevel systems view and makes use of both quantitative and qualitative methods, especially using longitudinal comparative case studies.