When the going gets tough, the goal-committed get going: overcoming the transaction costs of inter-agency collaborative governance

Abstract

ABSTRACT Collaborative governance, despite being a fraught endeavour, is sometimes the only option for addressing cross-agency problems. From 2012 to 2017, the New Zealand government’s flagship programme was an inter-agency collaborative governance regime focussed on achieving outcome targets. An earlier study attributed the programme’s success to sociotechnical features that reduced ‘transaction costs’. A subsequent study found this inconsistent with an emic (insider) perspective from public managers. Goal commitment was presented as an alternative, underexplored explanation for success despite high transaction costs. The two explanations are reconciled by Identifying common design features that contribute to successful inter-agency collaborative governance.