Multilevel Performance Indicators for Multisectoral Networks and Management

Abstract

Assessing public network performance is conceptually and methodologically challenging, because it is difficult to account for a public network’s multidimensional characteristics. This is one of the reasons why there are few fully developed conceptual frameworks that are supported by field-based empirical evidence. This theoretical underdevelopment makes it problematic for researchers to propose ways that professional managers may better develop, coordinate, and evaluate public networks.This article helps address this problem by extending and operationalizing Provan and Milward’s framework for multilevel (i.e., organizational, network, community) network effectiveness with Herranz’s concept of multisectoral network coordination strategies (i.e., bureaucratic, entrepreneurial, community). This article addresses the research question of whether network coordination is associated with network performance. The study finds that different network coordination approaches are associated with differential multilevel network performance and suggests that researchers and public managers consider network performance implications within the context of a strategic network coordination framework. Rather than offering a new theory to explain network effectiveness, this article aims to help build out “middle-range” theory as a step toward helping to construct more robust conceptual frameworks that inform the development of network management strategies and performance measurement tools for practitioners.