Mandated network formation

• Pages: 191-206
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/IJPSM-01-2018-0018
• Date: 04 March 2019
• Published date: 04 March 2019
• Author: Federica Segato,Jörg Raab
• Subject Matter: Public policy & environmental management,Politics,Public adminstration & management

Mandated network formation

Federica Segato

Department of Management, Economics and Industrial Engineering,

Politecnico di Milano, Milan, Italy, and

Jörg Raab

Department of Organization Studies,

Tilburg School of Social and Behavioral Sciences,

Tilburg University, Tilburg, The Netherlands

Abstract

Purpose –Policymakers often mandate and regulate the network formation to tackle complex issues of

public interest. However, the imposed legal, procedural, and political constraints (i.e. mandated specifications)

can affect the structuring and functioning of these networks and thus the sustainability and effectiveness of

the collaboration over time. The purpose of this paper is to investigate how mandated specifications affect the

formation of public networks.

Design/methodology/approach –Four networks of healthcare providers were selected and studied from

the inception of the collaboration until the services’activation, focusing specifically on how mandated

specifications (i.e. mandated purpose, mechanisms for access to resources, structure, and timing) affected

their processes of formation.

Findings –The cases show that mandated purpose facilitates goal alignment within the networks. The

leeway granted to the actors for access and internal distribution of resources enhances the network flexibility,

if appropriate monitoring against opportunism is applied. If structuring requirements are too stringent and

the actors are forced to respect timing constraints that go against the organic evolution of internal

relationships, the network capability to adapt and solve conflicts could be jeopardized.

Originality/value –Based on the findings, the authors formulate four propositions about the impact that

mandated specifications have on the process of network formation, which policymakers should be aware of,

when deciding to instigate a network.

Keywords Healthcare, Mandated networks, Network formation, Public networks

Paper type Research paper

Introduction

Policymakers, as well as other public agencies, often mandate or at least strongly stimulate

and regulate the formation of inter-organizational networks and collaborative arrangements

between public and/or private agencies to tackle complex and wicked issues of public

interest (Bartelings et al., 2017). Thus, mandated networks have become increasingly

prominent in the last three decades (Mandell et al., 2017; Raab and Kenis, 2009).

Contrary to emergent and voluntary networks, in mandated networks the instigator

mandates some specifications, such as the financing framework, the participating

organizations, the rules for their relationships, and the timing for actions (Popp and

Casebeer, 2015). These specifications limit the actors’leeway at formation and they may

affect the network functioning over time (Provan and Lemaire, 2012). Thus, many presumed

characteristics of networks, such as their flexibility, agility, capacity to improve knowledge

flow, and to better meet the clients’needs are put into question when it comes to mandated

networks (Provan and Lemaire, 2012). Some authors even go so far as to question if

networks should and could be mandated at all (Provan and Lemaire, 2012; Moynihan, 2009).

Nonetheless, mandated networks are widespread and this fact calls for research on their

specific characteristics. Recently, some research showed that mandating networks affects

the collaborative capacity of the actors in terms of vision, trust, goals, resources, risk, and

legitimacy (Popp and Casebeer, 2015; Provan and Lemaire, 2012).

Yet, the aim of this paper is to investigate the effect of mandated specifications on

network formation. To this end, we selected four networks of healthcare providers and

International Journal of Public

Sector Management

Vol. 32 No. 2, 2019

pp. 191-206

© Emerald PublishingLimited

0951-3558

DOI 10.1108/IJPSM-01-2018-0018

Received 19 January 2018

Revised 10 June 2018

Accepted 10 July 2018

The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:

www.emeraldinsight.com/0951-3558.htm

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formation

studied them longitudinally, from their inception until the services were activated.

We focuse on how the mandated specifications from the policymakers affected the four

processes of formation and we develop four propositions in this respect. Specifically, we

investigate the following research question:

RQ1. How do mandated specifications affect the process of formation of public

networks?

By focusing on the process of formation, we intend to extend knowledge on the functioning

and governance of public sector networks. In this respect, considerable progress has been

made so far in understanding what networks are, why they form, how they are governed,

and how they perform (Provan et al., 2007; Provan and Lemaire, 2012; Wang et al., 2016;

Cristofoli and Markovic, 2016). However, with few exceptions (e.g. Milward et al., 2010), this

literature is largely silent about network processes. Moreover, knowing how mandated

specifications affect the process of network formation will make policymakers and public

managers aware of the consequences of their actions on the development and functioning of

networks, with functioning being particularly crucial when networks are formed to deliver

critical services of public interest (Provan and Lemaire, 2012; Rodríguez et al., 2007). Last,

the paper contributes to our knowledge about when and how public managers should opt

for a network response and what important issues should be considered when imposing

specifications on the network purpose, timing, structure, and financing framework.

We begin by summarizing what is known so far about mandated networks and network

formation. Then, we report details about the research design and the strategy followed for

data collection and analysis. The processes of formation observed in the four networks are

then described in the fourth section (i.e. findings), while the last sections discuss four

propositions about the consequences of mandated specifications on network formation.

Background

Mandated networks: what has been studied so far

Networks are often formally established and governed for the attainment of a specific goal

(i.e. goal-directed networks; Provan et al., 2007). Yet, they could be voluntarily created by the

actors in a bottom-up thrust, or be mandated by an external third party (Kenis and Provan,

2006; Provan and Lemaire, 2012). In this paper, our interest is with goal-directed public

networks that are formally established and instigated by a policymaker or a public entity

(e.g. a Local Health Agency (LHA), the European Union, the United Nations), which

mandates some characteristics of the network, such as the mechanisms for the actors to get

access to resources, or the network structure (i.e. mandated networks; Popp and Casebeer,

2015). The external instigator can also impose the timing for the network formation, by

forcing the actors to sign contracts and start the collaboration within a due date, and by

defining penalties or incentives for respecting these deadlines. The eligible actors and the

governance structure of mandated networks can be imposed too; in some cases, for example,

the policymaker requires the creation of a Network Administrative Organization or coerce

the centrality of a specific actor within the network to enhance accountability (Saz‐Carranza

et al., 2016). Yet, mandated public networks vary in the degree of mandatedness, as the

policymakers could opt to coerce only some of the aspects mentioned above, by granting

leeway for the actors to mobilize and get organized themselves within the imposed

framework (Provan and Lemaire, 2012; Rodríguez et al., 2007).

Despite some criticism about whether collaboration among organizations and

individuals can be mandated or imposed at all (Rodríguez et al., 2007), it is

unquestionable that public managers and policymakers recur extensively to the

instigation of networks in order to organize and deliver public services (Raab and

Kenis, 2009; Mandell et al., 2017). An extensive amount of evidence shows that policymakers

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