Public‐Private Collaboration, Hybridity and Social Value: Towards New Theoretical Perspectives

Abstract

Focusing on the collaboration intersecting public, non-profit and private spheres of economic activity, we analyse the conceptual forms of hybridity embedded in these novel interorganizational arrangements, and link them to different mechanisms of creating social value. We first disentangle alternative notions of hybrid arrangements in existing literature by proposing a conceptual typology on two theoretically complementary yet distinct dimensions: hybridity in governance and hybridity in organizational logics. We show how both forms of hybridity can jointly occur in complex public-private and cross-sector collaborations, and propose the notion of value as a crucial bridging point between these perspectives. Crucially, we develop a conceptual framework on key theoretical mechanisms leading to economic and social value in these interorganizational collaborations. Our work deepens the understanding of how diverse, hybrid forms of collaboration can create value and builds critical links between previously disparate streams of literature on public-private interaction, cross-sector collaboration and social enterprises.

How do professionals perceive the governance of public–private partnerships? Evidence from Canada, the Netherlands and Denmark

“…Confirming PPP as a hybrid governance arrangement, this study presents interesting results on how theoretical paradigms are combined in practice. This may also inspire theorizing: where theoretical contributions, for instance, emphasize the different governance paradigms, we might focus more on the theoretical implications of hybrid arrangements that combine features of various paradigms (Quélin et al ). Second, our research shows that country, level of experience and the public/private distinction make a difference for the viewpoints of professionals.…”

“…PPP is a hybrid arrangement in the sense that it cuts across the public and private domains and aims to combine public and private practices that may prove to be hard to align. The variety of governance ideas and mechanisms associated with it emphasizes its hybrid character (Alam et al ; Quélin et al ). For instance, public–private partnerships reflect elements of the New Public Management (NPM) paradigm, including the strong focus on performance indicators and contracts as a safeguard against opportunistic behaviour (De Palma et al ).…”

Hidden Security: EU Public Research Funds and the Development of European Drones

“…The management studies literature has addressed the internal dynamics of these hybrid partnerships, their social value creation, and their nature as strategic alliances (Borys and Jemison, ; Kivleniece and Quelin, ; Quélin et al, ). In their 1989 seminal work, Borys and Jemison have developed a ‘theory of hybrids’ (1989), providing a framework of four key elements to understand the phenomenon of hybrid consortia: purpose, boundary definition, value creation and stability.…”

Delivering sustainability in supply networks: Achieving networked multi‐stakeholder collaborations

“…Gaining clarity on network level objectives, even if actors agree on the validity of a sustainable approach, can be further complicated by the tensions between the institutional logics espoused by the actors – where institutional logics can be defined as “institutional patterns influencing beliefs and norms of action in organizations” (Quelin, Kivleniece, & Lazzarini, : p4). As Brown and Bajada remind us in their paper, such heterogeneity is frequent even among similar firms, for instance, firms with the same type of activities and operating in the same country.…”

“…Such tensions make the establishment of multi‐stakeholder collaborations complex and difficult. This tension between stakeholders' institutional logics has been observed in the context of public‐private partnerships more generally, where the hybridity of institutional logics has been showed to complicate the resolution of tensions between objectives (Caldwell, Roehrich, & George, ; Quelin et al, ).…”