An examination of a reciprocal relationship between network governance and network structure

Abstract

In the present article, we examine the network structure and governance of inter-organisational innovation networks over time. Network governance refers to the issue of how to manage and coordinate the relational activities and processes in the network while research on network structure deals with the overall structural relations between the actors in the network. These streams of research do contain references to each other but they mainly rely on a static conception of the relationship between network structure and the applied network governance. Based on a case study of a loosely coupled Danish inter-organisational innovation network, the proposition is that a reciprocal relationship between network governance and network structure can be identified. Such a reciprocal relationship involves theoretical and practical implications for how to govern an inter-organisational network.