Towards collaborative development culture in local government organisations
International Journal of Public Sector Management
ISSN: 0951-3558
Article publication date: 9 April 2019
Issue publication date: 3 September 2019
Abstract
Purpose
This paper approaches collaborative governance reform as an empirical phenomenon. The purpose of this paper is to gain insights about the systemic and grassroots level conditions for collaboration, observed from the viewpoint of organisational culture. In this paper, the authors ask what constitutes collaborative development culture in local government organisations?
Design/methodology/approach
The research design is founded on secondary use of quantitative data; a survey targeted to Finnish local government organisations (n=172). The authors analyse what factors the different groups, managers, professionals and politicians consider important for collaborative development culture and how they assess their local government organisations in this regard.
Findings
According to the results, enabling and supporting management, local government personnel’s input and ability to seek external partners are essential for creating a collaborative development culture. Interestingly, despite the recognition of deterring factors by the respondents the results highlight that the supporting and driving factors are more important for creation of collaborative culture, giving an optimistic message to actors trying to enhance collaborative development culture in local government organisations.
Originality/value
The authors examine the collaborative governance reform in a critical way, from the viewpoint of organisational culture. Through the study, it is possible to better understand the reality and readiness for collaboration of local governments in this respect. This is a valuable aspect for increasing both theoretical and practical understanding of the so-called collaborative governance.
Keywords
Citation
Tuurnas, S., Stenvall, J., Virtanen, P.J., Pekkola, E. and Kurkela, K. (2019), "Towards collaborative development culture in local government organisations", International Journal of Public Sector Management, Vol. 32 No. 6, pp. 582-599. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJPSM-05-2018-0119
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2019, Emerald Publishing Limited