Virtual Balancing: How Digital Environments Influence the Participation and Efficiency of Cross-Sector Partnerships

Abstract

Cross-sector partnerships (XSP) that address complex societal issues tend to struggle to achieve a substantial impact. To attain successful collaboration, the way in which these XSPs balance participation and efficiency in collaborative practice is vital. While it is commonly examined in a face-to-face environment, this study investigates the practice in a digital context. Based on observations of virtual meetings in an XSP on climate change mitigation, a multimodal discourse analysis presents how affordances of communicative channels influenced the relationship of participation and efficiency, with consequences of increased centralization, virtual methods of governance and difficulties of dealing with complexity.