The Social Architecture of Collaborations in Four Watersheds: Convergence,Path Dependence,and the Collaborative Life-Cycle Framework

Abstract

This study uses the Collaborative Life-Cycle Framework to examine the challenges associated with developing a collaboration’s structure. A process analysis of collaborations emerging in four United States watersheds identified three interrelated sets of rules that form a collaboration’s social architecture: boundary rules (member and strategy rules); decision rules; and coordination rules. The analysis suggests that convergence on a structure is a path-dependent process where minor changes produce potentially large structural differences. It raises important questions about the evolutionary dynamics that create a collaboration’s structure. Discussion concludes by examining implications for theory development and practice.