Eric J. Boyer

Identifying a Knowledge Management Approach for Public-Private Partnerships

ABSTRACT This article examines the knowledge gaps in public-private partnerships (PPPs) for infrastructure, and the preferred knowledge management approach for public managers to address them. By examining transcripts from semi-structured interviews with professionals with direct experience working on PPPs in Texas and Virginia, the analysis indicates that knowledge gaps are greatest in the areas of risk assessment and allocation, public involvement, and consultant management. The findings also indicate that situated, experience-based approaches to identifying and sharing knowledge on PPPs are preferred to transfer learning. The summary implications suggest that even state agencies with extensive experience with PPPs face large knowledge deficiencies in this form of public-private collaboration, and that interpersonal, ongoing methods of sharing practical experiences are critical for cultivating expertise for designing and implementing PPPs.

Developing government expertise in strategic contracting for public–private partnerships

While there is general consensus that a lack of internal skills and abilities threatens contracting performance, there is relatively little research on the processes and practices by which government develops knowledge in contract design and implementation. Drawing from primary data collected from two state government agencies in the USA, this research identifies the ways public managers use lessons from their own organization and from the wider organizational environment to improve their approach to contracting for public–private partnerships (PPPs). A four-part framework of organizational learning is presented to guide public sector capacity development for PPPs. The results suggest that public and private interests conflict not only in contract design and implementation, but also in the battle for ideas that inform government decision-making. The results also suggest that a number of internal management reforms are needed to foster a climate amenable to organizational learning on PPPs.

Citizen Attitudes Towards Public–Private Partnerships:

This study examines the factors that influence public attitudes toward public–private partnerships (PPPs) through an analysis of public opinion data collected in 2014. Although previous literature has examined public attitudes toward government contracting and asset privatization, there is little understanding of how the public feels about more collaborative forms of public–private interaction. Counter to previous studies that suggest that support for free enterprise and a disdain for government increases support for private involvement in public services, we find that attitudes toward PPPs are nuanced: Respondents favor them not only when they have positive feelings toward the business sector but also when they also report trust in government. PPPs are thus perceived not as a replacement to public administration, but as a delivery model that demands competence and trust of both public and private partners. The results also explain a previously unstudied relationship between respondent familiarity with PPPs and their attitudes toward them. Counter to expectations, we find that the more familiarity that respondents have with PPPs, the more likely they are to view them favorably. We also identify factors that predict public opinions of PPPs which can inform public outreach and public involvement programs involved with PPPs.

Do Executives Approach Leadership Differently When They Are Involved in Collaborative Partnerships? A Perspective from International Nongovernmental Organizations (INGOs)

Abstract Leaders of international nongovernmental organizations (INGOs) navigate daily between the internal politics of their own organization and the external environment. Frequently, these leaders have to make decisions with regard to starting or managing a partnership or collaboration. Although there is extensive literature on collaboration, rarely have the leaders’ own perceptions been the focus of analysis. This article draws on transcripts from 137 in-depth, in-person interviews with senior executives of U.S.-based INGOs. The research questions are: What leadership skills and behaviors are perceived to be important among executives of INGOs? and Do leaders view these skills and behaviors differently based on whether or not they are involved in collaborative partnerships? The results show that consensus-driven and visionary leadership are dominant across all leaders, no matter their level of involvement in collaborative partnerships. However, we find differences with regard to other leadership areas. Leaders involved in partnerships are more likely to emphasize motivational leadership and relationship management. Leaders who do not work in partnerships place more emphasis on task-oriented aspects of leadership: decisiveness, cost-effectiveness, and marketing & outreach. These results provide new insights into the possible causes of differences in leadership styles and have implications for both nonprofit and public management.

Analysing managerial perceptions of when and how to structure public involvement in public-private partnerships

ABSTRACT Previous research highlights what managers perceive to be the purposes of public involvement in public-private partnerships (PPPs) and the need for addressing stakeholder concerns unique to PPPs. Yet, we have little evidence of how particular modes of participation benefit particular goals of participation in this context. Through canonical correlation analysis (CCA) of survey data collected in the U.S., this study examines the modes and sequencing of 14 public involvement activities in respect to 10 goals of public involvement in this context. The results indicate that selections among modes of participation are contingent upon when they are introduced. Respondents prefer widening stakeholder involvement early in the project development phase and during the contract implementation phase, but not during the later phases of contract design. Respondents also assign more value to engaging local citizens than their respective political leaders, particularly at mature stages of the PPP’s implementation phase.

An Empirical Examination of Partnership Frequency and Design within International Nongovernmental Organizations (INGOs)

ABSTRACT Despite the increase in public and nonprofit partnerships, there is little understanding of the organizational factors associated with partnership frequency and design. Through negative binomial and multinomial logistic regressions, this study analyzes data from interviews with 149 leaders of international nongovernmental organizations (INGOs), to first examine partnership frequency, and to then examine the formation of different partnerships structures: principal-based partnerships, agent-based partnerships, and shared power-based partnerships. The findings suggest that improving results and increasing funding are the primary goals of partnership adoption, and that the most management intensive forms of partnerships are only adopted when INGOs have sufficient organizational capacity.

Collaborating to Manage: A Primer for the Public Sector by Robert Agranoff

Robert Agranoff’s Collaborating to Manage develops a vivid portrait of the ways public leaders work across boundaries to engage other government and nongovernmental actors in public service delivery. The book presents a number of conceptual frameworks and case studies to illustrate the practice of ‘‘collaborative management,’’ or the general ‘‘process of facilitating and operating in multi organizational arrangements to solve problems that cannot be solved, or resolved easily, by single [public sector] organizations’’ (Agranoff and McGuire 2003, 4). In doing so, Agranoff develops standards for public leaders to compare their own behavior against, and lays out a set of theoretical frames to guide further research in this area. Chapter topics address the organizational realities of administrating public programs in decentralized environments, and the historical factors that have led up to collaborative governance (Chapters 1 and 2); the ‘‘conductive’’ nature of public agencies, which requires them to increasingly incorporate input from external stakeholders (Chapter 3); as well as the imperative of interfacing with multiple external stakeholders from outside of government, along with the varied regulatory, political, and related administrations inherent in the U.S. federal system (Chapters 4 and 5). Additionally, significant attention is paid to actual processes that can bring about greater agreement and coordination (Chapter 6), and tools for identifying factors that often limit the abilities of public and nongovernmental organizations to work well with one another (Chapter 7). The book is filled with numerous case illustrations of how collaboration in the public sector can take place. Each example highlights the many administrative ‘‘tools’’ that structure formal relations across public and private organizations International Public Management Journal