Diversity, Trust, and Social Learning in Collaborative Governance

• Author: William D. Leach,Jangmin Kim,Saba Siddiki
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/puar.12800
• Published date: 01 November 2017
• Date: 01 November 2017

Diversity, Trust, and Social Learning in Collaborative Governance 863

Public Administration Review,

Vol. 77, Iss. 6, pp. 863–874. © 2017 by

The American Society for Public Administration.

DOI: 10.1111/puar.12800.

William D. Leach is teaching associate

professor in the online master of public

administration program in the Price

School of Public Policy, University of

Southern California. He teaches courses on

collaborative governance, policy evaluation,

urban planning, and social policy.

E-mail : leachw@price.usc.edu

Jangmin Kim is assistant professor

in the School of Social Work at Texas

State University. His research focuses on

collaborative governance, community-based

collaboration, and integrated human service

delivery system within critical and social

justice perspectives.

E-mail : j_k264@txstate.edu

Saba Siddiki is assistant professor

in the Maxwell School of Citizenship

and Public Affairs at Syracuse University.

Her research focuses on policy design,

policy implementation, and collaborative

governance.

E-mail : ssiddiki@syr.edu

Abstract : Scholarship on collaborative governance identifies several structural and procedural factors that consistently

influence governance outcomes. A promising next step for collaborative governance research is to explore how

these factors interact. Focusing on two dimensions of social learning—relational and cognitive—as outcomes of

collaboration, this article examines potential interacting effects of participant diversity and trust. The empirical

setting entails 10 collaborative partnerships in the United States that provide advice on marine aquaculture policy.

The findings indicate that diversity in beliefs among participants is positively related to relational learning, whereas

diversity in participants’ affiliations is negatively related to relational learning, and high trust bolsters the positive

effects of belief diversity on both relational and cognitive learning. In addition, high trust dampens the negative effects

of affiliation diversity on relational learning. A more nuanced understanding of diversity in collaborative governance

has practical implications for the design and facilitation of diverse stakeholder groups.

Practitioner Points

• Designers of collaborative processes should consider which types of participant diversity will be most

beneficial, recognizing that belief diversity promotes learning, but affiliation diversity can impede learning.

• To promote learning in highly diverse stakeholder groups, conveners should seek to build interpersonal trust,

establish processes that treat all parties fairly, and consider enlisting mutually respected mediators.

• Participants should expect relational learning, but not necessarily cognitive learning, to increase gradually

through the duration of the collaborative process.

D iversity presents opportunities and challenges

for collaborative governance (Milliken and

Martins 1996 ; Varda and Retrum 2015 ).

Collaborative governance is used to address complex

public policy issues or public service delivery tasks.

Issues and tasks are deemed complex when the causal

linkages between the challenges underlying them

and related solutions are uncertain and contested,

when the multiple dimensions that make up issues

and tasks naturally elicit various sectoral and

disciplinary perspectives, or when there is substantial

disparity among relevant stakeholders in beliefs

about how an issue or task should be managed

(Gerlak and Heikkila 2011 ). In complex policy and

managerial environments, convening diverse sets

of knowledgeable stakeholders brings resources and

expertise to inform on issue or task technicalities.

Further, it can lead to holistic and contextually

appropriate approaches that acknowledge how policies

and programs affect different stakeholder groups

and facilitate shared understanding of public policy

problems and solutions (Beierle and Cayford 2002 ;

Maggioni, Nelson, and Mazmanian 2012 ; Weible and

Sabatier 2009 ).

Although diversity can be promising, gaining

agreement among diverse stakeholders can be costly

and difficult. Stakeholders from different disciplines

or sectors may rely on field- or profession-specific

language and culture, challenging interpersonal

communication (Huxham 2000 ; O ’ Brien, Marzano,

and White 2013 ). Resource disparities among

participants in collaborative processes can suggest

imbalances in power, which, in turn, can threaten

group efficacy (Ospina and Saz-Carranza 2010 ;

Tschirhart, Christensen, and Perry 2005 ). Further,

individuals may be less trusting or open to building

new relationships with others with different

backgrounds or affiliations.

Recognizing the opportunities and challenges of

diversity for collaborative governance prompts

analyses of how diversity links to important

collaborative governance outcomes, such as social

learning. Social learning occurs as a result of social

interaction or deliberation (Pahl-Wostl et al. 2007 ).

It can manifest in cognitive learning as knowledge

gains (Koontz 2014 ; Leach et al. 2014 ) or in

relational learning as improved interpersonal relations

Saba Siddiki

Syracuse University

Jangmin Kim

Texas State University

William D. Leach

University of Southern California

Diversity, Trust, and Social Learning in

Collaborative Governance