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The purpose of this paper is to explicate how the processual third context learning approach provides new understandings and dimensions to the well-established terminology within the fields of inter-organizational learning and university–industry collaboration. These understandings and dimensions are empirically informed by an analysis of a collaboration between Aalborg University and Bang & Olufsen, a Danish loudspeaker manufacturer.

To fulfill the research purpose, a case study based on a participatory data collection strategy was applied in the collaboration between Aalborg University and Bang & Olufsen. Data were collected through a qualitative multimethod approach, comprising semi-structured interviews, field observations and field notes. Phenomenologically inspired content analysis revealed the themes outlined and discussed.

The third context framework was useful in outlining the complexity of a bidirectional collaboration. The inter-organizational learning processes were, for example, influenced by the actors’ recurrent inquiry of perplexities regarding the purpose and content of the collaboration. The extracted empirical findings are discussed and related to the fields of inter-organizational learning and university–industry collaboration, thereby explicating how a processual learning perspective provides new understandings and dimensions to collaboration across organizations.

The paper contributes empirically informed processual-learning dimensions to the literature on inter-organizational learning and university–industry collaboration.

Supply chain collaboration is increasingly important in today’s competitive business environment. While prior research has acknowledged the role of relationships in facilitating collaboration, few studies have considered inter-personal and inter-organisational attributes simultaneously. This study addresses this gap by investigating these two levels of the manufacturer-supplier relationship in Vietnam’s fishery industry and their impacts on supply chain collaboration.

The study employed a quantitative approach. A questionnaire was distributed to 635 fishery manufacturers in Vietnam by the drop-and-collect method. EFA and CFA were used to assess the reliability and validity of the measurement model, while CB-SEM was employed for structural model assessment and hypothesis testing.

Supply chain collaboration encompasses incentive alignment, collaborative communication, decision synchronisation, and information sharing. All antecedents, including commitment, inter-organisational trust, reciprocity, and inter-personal trust, positively affect collaboration. Inter-personal trust positively influences the other antecedents, and inter-organisational trust enhances commitment. Furthermore, there are partial mediating effects among these relationship attributes. However, no significant moderating effect regarding firm size is observed.

The study extends the social exchange theory to encompass both inter-personal and inter-organisational relationship attributes. Additionally, it pioneers in investigating the interrelatedness of these antecedents. By addressing the research gap in the Vietnamese fishery supply chain, it offers valuable insights for both academics and practitioners, contributing to theoretical understanding and practical implications in supply chain collaboration.

Organizations are increasingly joining inter-organizational networks to foster sustainable employability for their employees. The purpose of this study is to identify the factors and mechanisms central to their success as experienced by key stakeholders.

An explorative, qualitative approach was adopted, using four focus groups with network coordinators (N = 18) and HR professionals (N = 14). Fourteen Dutch inter-organizational networks were represented. Respondents were recruited through purposive and snowballing sampling techniques. Thematic analysis was applied using open coding to generate themes.

The results of this study outline environmental, structural, and inter-personal factors and mechanisms that contribute to the success of inter-organizational networks that aim to foster sustainable employability for their employees. The environmental factors and mechanisms consist of challenges stemming from the labor market. The structural factors and mechanisms include: a network’s flat structure, flat fee, lack of informal rules, the allocation of roles and expectations for stakeholders and shared network activities. Lastly, the inter-personal factors and mechanisms are: communication among stakeholders, establishing reciprocity, interaction and collaboration between stakeholders, the valuation of trust, a convivial culture and shared vision among stakeholders. The dynamics between these factors and mechanisms are compared to other forms of inter-organizational networks. Furthermore, several recommendations for network coordinators and practitioners regarding the development of networks are presented.

This study provides insights into the factors and mechanisms that are regarded by stakeholders as influencing the success of inter-organizational networks in their ability to foster sustainable employability for workers. We have identified a unique model that captures this new way of inter-organizational collaboration and builds on insights from literature on collaborative governance regimes, institutional fields and entrepreneurial ecosystems. Specifically, the model provides a framework that consists of environmental, structural and interpersonal factors and mechanisms for network success. This study increases our understanding of how collaborative efforts can be fostered beyond organizational boundaries and existing Human Resource Management practices.

Societies depend on interconnected infrastructures that are becoming more complex over the years. Multi-disciplinary knowledge and skills are essential to develop modern infrastructures, requiring close collaboration of various infrastructure owners. To effectively manage and improve inter-organizational collaboration (IOC) in infrastructure construction projects, collaboration status should be assessed continually. This study identifies the assessment criteria, forming the foundation of a tool for assessing the status of IOC in interconnected infrastructure projects.

A systematic literature study and in-depth semi-structured interviews with practitioners in interconnected infrastructure construction projects in the Netherlands are performed to identify the criteria for assessing the status of IOC in infrastructure construction projects, based on which an assessment tool is developed.

The identified assessment criteria through the literature and the practitioner’s perspectives results in the designing and development of a collaboration assessment tool. The assessment tool consists of 12 criteria and 36 sub-criteria from three different categories of collaborative capacity: individual, relational, and organizational.

The assessment tool enables practitioners to monitor the status of IOC between infrastructure owners and assists them in making informed decisions to enhance collaboration. The assessment tool provides the opportunity to assess and analyze the status of collaboration based on three categories (i.e., individual, relational, and organizational).

Process mining (PM) has emerged as a leading technology for gaining data-based insights into organizations’ business processes. As processes increasingly cross-organizational boundaries, firms need to conduct PM jointly with multiple organizations to optimize their operations. However, current knowledge on cross-organizational process mining (coPM) is widely dispersed. Therefore, we synthesize current knowledge on coPM, identify challenges and enablers of coPM, and build a socio-technical framework and agenda for future research.

We conducted a literature review of 66 articles and summarized the findings according to the framework for Information Technology (IT)-enabled inter-organizational coordination (IOC) and the refined PM framework. The former states that within inter-organizational relationships, uncertainty sources determine information processing needs and coordination mechanisms determine information processing capabilities, while the fit between needs and capabilities determines the relationships’ performance. The latter distinguishes three categories of PM activities: cartography, auditing and navigation.

Past literature focused on coPM techniques, for example, algorithms for ensuring privacy and PM for cartography. Future research should focus on socio-technical aspects and follow four steps: First, determine uncertainty sources within coPM. Second, design, develop and evaluate coordination mechanisms. Third, investigate how the mechanisms assist with handling uncertainty. Fourth, analyze the impact on coPM performance. In addition, we present 18 challenges (e.g. integrating distributed data) and 9 enablers (e.g. aligning different strategies) for coPM application.

This is the first article to systematically investigate the status quo of coPM research and lay out a socio-technical research agenda building upon the well-established framework for IT-enabled IOC.

Considering the size and intricate nature of defense supply chains (DSC), there exists a need for a conceptual understanding regarding the precise dynamics of collaboration among the various participants engaged in these chains. This paper seeks to address the gap by investigating the practices that enable or inhibit collaborations and the development of new competencies to effectively employ a flexible response to temporary or more sustained surges in demand. Ultimately, the study aims to develop a theoretical framework relevant to the practical implementation and scholarly examination of contemporary military supply chains.

Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 51 DSC professionals in 7 embedded cases within an enterprise framework. The resulting transcripts were analyzed using constructs and concepts from a supply chain logistics (SC/L) literature analysis and synthesis relevant to our research purpose. Finally, the results were validated by an industry focus group with 12 participants representing the government, military, industry, and academia.

This research produced empirical generalizations that provide in-depth and systematic exploratory insights into collaboration’s meaning and characteristics within the DSC context. This study culminates by introducing a conceptual model and definition of defense supply chain collaboration (DSCC) and concludes by proposing future research directions.

This study makes a novel and empirical contribution to the SC/L body of knowledge by investigating embedded cases through unique access to informants within an enterprise framework that focuses on the antecedent influencing factors of collaboration within the contextual domain of the DSC and positions a future research agenda.

This paper aims to extend insights about the relationship between inter-organizational collaboration and approaches to control from the perspective of decision-makers. We investigate the relationship between approaches to control and intended forms of integration between actors responsible for solving the complex problem of integrated person-centered care for elderly with diverse and significant needs.

The empirical study is based on a content analysis of contractual agreements. We have analyzed a total of 118 collaboration agreements and associative documents between all Swedish regions and municipalities.

The study shows that intended integration is subject to remarkable variation in intended forms of inter-organizational collaboration in this Swedish case. The paper illustrates that decision-makers’ intentions with proposed collaboration in each given context are important for the chosen approach to control. Regardless of intended forms of integration, our study suggests that an imminent soft approach to control is expressed alongside limited signs of hard control. Various forms of intended integration can be managed by the two approaches simultaneously insofar as the agreements appear to have a two-sided purpose.

Our paper proposes an empirically driven taxonomy of intended forms of integration initiatives. The taxonomy provides resources for studies about how collaboration can be managed when it is stipulated by national legislation but local self-governance gives actors considerable freedom to decide on how to organize and manage services. By presenting the taxonomy and relating this to approaches of control, our iterative study builds on and adds to a recent stream of research arguing that the relationship between collaboration and approaches to control may by fuzzier and more complex than originally thought.

In the past decade, financial austerity has brought significant pressure upon emergency services in the UK. For the British Government, one approach to alleviate this pressure was to increase collaborative efforts in core functions (e.g. information systems and technology) between multiple organisations. Despite the consensus that collaborations are key in addressing complex problems, the majority fail or become discontinued. This research explores the development of collaborative information infrastructures between one Police Force and two Fire and Rescue Services in the UK, with a specific focus on how the difference in culture, identities and rules and norms, can work in a collaborative emergency service environment.

This study investigated an example of successful development of a collaborative information infrastructure within the context of public safety and, specifically, the technology-based structures that underpin information management. A case study approach was taken, combining semi-structured interviews, document analysis and site visits. The study used activity theory as a theoretical and analytical framework.

The research revealed that creating a shared identity is not essential in emergency services collaboration, and organisations may maintain their separate identity, given they address other elements of the activity system (e.g. leadership, motivated subjects). However, pursuing this strategy will create multiple tensions throughout the collaboration process.

The study contributes to the information systems literature concerning inter-organisational collaborations in the public sector providing a novel view to the implications of maintaining separate identities, and the significance of misalignment between interacting activity systems.

To help alleviate the immense suffering caused by humanitarian crises worldwide, organisations are forming relationships for effective coordination and resource sharing. However, organisations can struggle to build trust because of the uncertain context, varying institutional mandates and socio-cultural differences. Thus, this paper aims to better understand how humanitarian groups can leverage formal mechanisms to produce greater trust.

This paper adopts a logical–positivist research paradigm to formulate and test its hypotheses. This paper answered this study’s research question using structural equation modelling from survey data of 180 humanitarian managers.

In inter-organisational humanitarian relationships, formal mechanisms indirectly foster trust through two mediators: distributive justice and information sharing.

This research presents the perspective of only one partner in inter-organisational relationships. Moreover, the operationalisations of formal mechanisms and trust were not comprehensive (i.e. only contracts and integrity-based trust, respectively).

To the best of the author’s knowledge, this research is a first attempt to empirically link the widely discussed idea of formal mechanisms, distributive justice, information sharing and trust in inter-organisational humanitarian relationships. Further, this research is the first attempt to present and empirically validate a theoretical model that addresses how formal mechanisms foster trust in inter-organisational relationships.

The aim of this research is to explore how a programmatic multi-project context influences project-based firms (PBFs) in organizing their relations with other PBFs and suppliers in a project-based industry.

A multiple case study research is conducted. Data are collected from two case studies in the construction infrastructure sector. Eleven interviews with contractors and other suppliers are the primary source of data collection. The data are complemented by procurement documents and expert consultations.

The findings show that within a programmatic multi-project context, PBFs settle relations with (1) key partners for program management capacity, PBFs establish relations with (2) main contractors to divide projects and (innovation) tasks, and PBFs intensify relations with (3) suppliers to ensure continuity and expertise.

The study contributes to the body of project management literature by exploring PBF’s relations with other PBFs and suppliers in a multi-project context. Based on empirical data, the study provides a distinction in layers presenting distinct levels of PBF’s supplier relations. This layer structure provides an excellent starting point for future studies exploring the program perspective of PBFs in the integrated supply chain.

Given the increase in programmatic multi-project context for project-based domains, discussed in both literature and practice, this study explores the effect of programs on relations of PBFs with other PBFs and suppliers. The study distinguishes PBF’s relations with the different suppliers in three layers and discusses the characteristics of these relations.