Organizational networks for sustainable development

This chapter focuses on a more structural governance perspective as it has evolved in the public management literature in the last three decades and applies that to sustainable development. Organizational networks for sustainability come in many shapes and forms and with many different labels. The rationale for organizational networks to exist can be seen from a system and from an actor perspective. As in the general literature on organizational networks, we can identify different types of networks in the literature with regard to sustainability issues as well. Engineered networks are consciously created and governed and people operating in these networks might over time develop a shared consciousness and identity. In general, there is no reason to believe that networks in the area of sustainability function differently than in other areas and therefore the insights from the general literature on networks and partnerships are in principle applicable.