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Private management of public networks? Unpacking the relationship between network management strategies in infrastructure implementation
Author(s) -
Busscher Tim,
Verweij Stefan,
Brink Margo
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
governance
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.46
H-Index - 76
eISSN - 1468-0491
pISSN - 0952-1895
DOI - 10.1111/gove.12602
Subject(s) - unpacking , network management , business , process (computing) , capital (architecture) , virtuous circle and vicious circle , private capital , social capital , public relations , process management , knowledge management , economics , computer science , sociology , political science , microeconomics , computer network , social science , philosophy , linguistics , macroeconomics , archaeology , production (economics) , history , operating system
With the aim to successfully implement infrastructure, implementation arrangements increasingly assign responsibilities for network management to private actors. In the literature, two types of network management strategies are distinguished: process design and institutional design. To date, research has focused on either of these strategies. Moreover, while private actors aim to use the institutional capital built in the network before the private actor was introduced, the role of institutional capital in network management is often overlooked. Taking these research gaps together, we aim to explore the relationship between the two network management strategies and the intermediating role of institutional capital. We compare three cases of infrastructure implementation from the Netherlands. We find that institutional design strategies, through setting the network rules in the implementation arrangement, can ignite a virtuous or a vicious circle, respectively, hindering or enhancing opportunities for network management through process design.