Collaboration for Public Services: Explaining Outputs and Outcomes

Authors

Jennifer Hilton Montero, Florida International UniversityFollow

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Major/Program

Public Affairs

First Advisor's Name

Milena I. Neshkova

First Advisor's Committee Title

Committee Chair

Second Advisor's Name

Susannah Bruns Ali

Second Advisor's Committee Title

Co-Commitee Chair

Third Advisor's Name

Sukumar Ganapati

Third Advisor's Committee Title

Committee Member

Fourth Advisor's Name

Travis Whetsell

Fourth Advisor's Committee Title

Committee Member

Fifth Advisor's Name

Kevin Evans

Fifth Advisor's Committee Title

Committee Member

Keywords

collaboration, collaborative governance, task forces, performance

Date of Defense

7-1-2022

Abstract

This dissertation addresses a current gap in collaborative governance literature pertaining to the performance of collaborative regimes. Specifically, it conceptualizes collaborative performance as consisting of outputs and outcomes and offers a novel way to measure them consistently across policy domains. The study tests the contextual, situational, and institutional design factors that lead to enhanced outputs and outcomes of collaborative forums. The dissertation consists of three essays, and the findings of one form the base for the others. Essay 1 systematically reviews the literature (n=274) and compares the approaches to studying collaboration in public administration to those in political science and policy studies. The review highlights the differences in the analytic approaches, connects collaborative processes to collaborative outputs and outcomes, identifies limitations, and suggests a research agenda. Essay 2 empirically assesses the performance of collaborative forums. The analysis uses data from task forces mandated by the Florida legislature between 2000 and 2020 across four policy areas and compares the outputs and outcomes produced by them. The selection of policy areas is informed by Ingram and Schneider’s (1993) and Gormley’s (1986) typologies and includes child welfare, criminal justice, defense, and environment. Essay 3 draws on interview data with task force participants (n=26) and compares their experiences in mandated and voluntary forms of collaboration and the implications for performance. Overall, this study contributes to the literature by devising a consistent measure to assess collaborative performance across policy areas and testing the explanatory power of key theories. Moreover, the analysis takes a multi-disciplinary and cross-policy approach and utilizes quantitative and qualitative data. The results inform research and practice on how to design more productive and representative collaborative forums in order to solve complex public problems.

Identifier

FIDC010897

ORCID

0000-0002-1530-2277

Recommended Citation

Hilton Montero, Jennifer, "Collaboration for Public Services: Explaining Outputs and Outcomes" (2022). FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 5092.
https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd/5092