Partnership Characteristics, Network Behavior, and Publicness: Evidence on the Performance of Sustainable Development Projects

Richard M. WALKER*, Peter HILLS

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Journal PublicationsJournal Article (refereed)peer-review

23 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

This study examines partnership characteristics, network behavior, and publicness in the complex policy arena of sustainable development (SD). The study is set in Hong Kong, a city moving away from command-and-control policy instruments to the use of partnerships and stakeholder engagement. It is contended that network partnership characteristics of commitment, equity, mutuality, and trust together with network behavior will vary by the degree of publicness but collectively contribute in a positive manner towards the performance of SD projects. Data were collected from members of 28 SD advisory committees/representative organizations (a 57% response rate) and resulted in a usable dataset of 53 SD projects. Results of analysis indicate that government, business, and civil society SD project members do not perceive major differences between partnership characteristics and perceived project performance but do in relation to network behavior. Multiple regression analysis suggests that trust contributes towards perceived project performance, as do the network behavior characteristics of private sector and civil society group actors; however, for the latter group, network behavior is negatively correlated with project performance. The conclusion discusses implications of these findings for the study of SD projects in Hong Kong and beyond. © 2013 Copyright Taylor and Francis Group, LLC.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)479-499
Number of pages21
JournalInternational Public Management Journal
Volume15
Issue number4
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Oct 2012
Externally publishedYes

Funding

The authors acknowledge the Research Grant Council Public Policy Program (grant # 7010-PPR-09), National Research Foundation of Korea Grant funded by the Korean Government (grant # NRF-2011-330-B00194), and research assistance from Esther Wong.

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Partnership Characteristics, Network Behavior, and Publicness: Evidence on the Performance of Sustainable Development Projects'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this