POWER IN INTER-ORGANIZATIONAL COLLABORATION
Keywords
No Thumbnail Available
Authors
Issue Date
2025-06-30
Language
en
Document type
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Title
ISSN
Volume
Issue
Startpage
Endpage
DOI
Abstract
The sustainability of infrastructure in the Netherlands requires complex transitions that
involve diverse stakeholders. Inter-organizational collaboration is used to find sustainable
solutions through cooperation between organizations from different sectors. Between these
organizations, power plays a central role in shaping possible outcomes. While organizations
hold different types of power, it remains unclear how this power is exercised. This study aims
to explore how different types of power are exercised in inter-organizational collaboration by
adopting a framework of five distinct types of power: reward, coercive, legitimate, referent
and expert power. A case study is used to investigate the exercise of power in an
infrastructure transition issue in the Netherlands. Data are collected through observation,
document and interviews. The study shows that different types of power are exercised in
significantly different ways. Inclusion is discovered as a mechanism in the exercise of reward
and legitimate power, while use of media is found to be crucial in the exercise of referent
power. The difference between holding and exercising power is also emphasized by the
findings on coercive power.
Description
Citation
Supervisor
Faculty
Faculteit der Managementwetenschappen