This paper extends theories of public goods to interactive communication systems. Two key public communication goods are identified. Connectivity provides point-to-point communication, and communality links members through commonly held information, such as that often found in databases.These extensions are important, we argue, because communication public goods operate differently from traditional material public goods. These differences have important implications for costs, benefits, and the realization of a critical mass of users that is necessary for realization of the good. We also explore multifunctional goods that combine various features and hybrid goods that link private goods to public ones. We examine the applicability of two key assumptions of public goods theory to interactive communication systems. First, jointness of supply specifies that consumption of a public good does not diminish its availability to others. Second, impossibility of exclusion stipulates that all members of the public have access to the good. We conclude with suggestions for further theoretical development.Public goods theories grapple with the age-old problem of how to induce collaborative problem solving and other forms of collective action among self-interested individuals, groups, or organizations, assuming, of course, that they share at least some common goals. When successful, such collective action generates so-called public goods, such as parks, roads, libraries, neighborhood brush removal for fire prevention, beach cleanups, or other organized collective goals. Inducing collective action for interorganizational efforts is also a formidable challenge, applied in such diverse arenas as the United Nations, business cartels, conglomerations of charitable organizations, the Japanese keiretsu, and health service provider networks.Possibilities for collective action have expanded with recent advancements in information and communication technologies such as electronic mail, cellular telephones, and fax machines as well as the increased availability, complexity, and linkages of database systems, electronic bulletin boards, and other public and private information forums. These new capabilities can, in certain contexts and with appropriate inducements, support electronic communities such as the City of Santa Monica's Public 60
This article presents a public goods-based theory that describes the process of producing multifirm, alliance-based, interorganizational communication and information public goods. These goods offer participants in alliances collective benefits that are (a) rlorrescllrdable, in that they are available to all alliance partners whether or not they have contributed, and (b) jointlv supplied, in that partners' uses of the good are noncompeting. Two
Form Approved REPORT DOCUMENTATION I ne 1501111 reportng ouroen T'or 1119 conecoon or' imomlmkon is smaarao to average i hour per response, inciumng me rn for FR reigwing structions, ýercrvrng 9osmong oats, sources, owtenng and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of informion. SPONSORINGIMONITORING AGENCY NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES) 10. SPONSORIMONITOR'S ACRONYM(S) SPONSOR/MONITOR'S REPORT NUMBER(S)12. DISTRIBUTION/AVAILABILITY STATEMENT Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited. SUPPLEMENTARY NOTESThis is the work of the United States Government and therefore is not copyrighted. This work may be copied and disseminated without restriction. Many SSC San Diego public release documents are available in electronic format at: http:llwww.spawar.navy.millstilpublications/pubs/index.html 14. ABSTRACT In organizational settings, a communication dilemma exists whenever the interests of a collective (i.e., team, organization, interorganizational alliance) demand that people share privately held information, but their individual interests instead motivate them to withhold it. This article develops and tests an expectancy model that predicts specific conditions under which collective benefits can be made to converge with private ones, thus resolving communication dilemmas and motivating voluntary contributions to a collectively shared database. In the model, motivation is a multiplicative function of individual-level attitudes and beliefs: (a) organizational commitment; (b) organizational instrumentality, an instrumentality that links successful collective information sharing to broader organizational gain; (c) connective efficacy, an expectation that information contributed to the database will reach other members of the collective; and (d) information self-efficacy, the self-perceived value of a contributor's information to other database users. The model was tested by a survey administered to members of an intact work team using a discretionary database. The multiplicative model was significant and explained sizeable amounts of variance in the motivation to contribute discretionary information. Implications for theory and practice are discussed. The model can be readily extended to predict information sharing by means of other communication media.
Recent advances in law enforcement recognise that, increasingly, more types of crime have migrated across localities and even nations. Law enforcement requires the combined efforts of disparate agencies that must cooperate across organisational and jurisdictional boundaries. Nowhere is this trend more evident than in efforts to combat illegal drug trafficking. Recent efforts involve applying new communication and information technologies to assist the agencies to pool their talents and information in order to attack their common problems more efficiently and effectively. This paper is a case study of such a multi-agency alliance. It describes the two formative phases of the alliance: negotiation and commitment. The paper recounts several potential barriers to the formation of multi-agency alliances, including agency diversity, resource limitations and disincentives to collaboration. The paper also identifies critical factors for the successful formation of alliances, including common goals, facilitative structural mechanisms, broad participation and external support.
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