Description
There is an increase in the prevalence of (public) organizations working together to achieve outcomes none of the organizations can achieve on their own (Huxham & Vangen, 2005; Nowell & Milward, 2022; Provan & Kenis, 2008). They are a response to challenges of well-being— environmental degradation, poverty or education for all— which must be tackled through collaborative efforts since they comprise interconnected problems that cross boundaries between for-profit, non-profit and governmental sectors (Head, 2008). Through these collaborative efforts, organizations overcome the limitations of their capacities, resources, and knowledge. However, by operating through purpose-oriented networks they also lose part of their sovereignty and collaborating with other organizations creates dependencies and risks and reduces transparency that can be hard to manage (Schillemans, 2008). Classical hierarchical accountability and supervisory concepts are thus challenged in this context. The question then becomes what other accountability concepts and supervisory arrangements are possible, to support, rather than hamper, the effectiveness of such networks and safeguard democratic accountability (Ehren & Perryman 2018; Sabel & Zeitlin 2012). These questions are rarely discussed in the academic literature to date. In the literature on collaborations and networks, questions of accountability and control are not often discussed and even somehow seen almost as an oxymoron. For the literature on auditing and supervision, inter-organizational collaborations are somewhat mysterious organizational forms that do not fit the dominant supervision and accounting paradigm. In the accountability literature, such organizational forms are often seen as untransparent and problematic. We start from the assumption that avoiding or prohibiting purpose-oriented networks is not an option, although we can question whether they are always necessary. Therefore, the paper will explore how characteristics of purpose-oriented networks and accountability might conflict but also influence each other and how innovative forms of accountability and supervisory mechanisms and arrangements might overcome such conflicts.| Period | 30 Jun 2023 |
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| Event title | Public Management Research Conference |
| Event type | Conference |
| Location | Utrecht, NetherlandsShow on map |
| Degree of Recognition | International |