The emergence and evolution of cross-boundary research collaborations: An explanatory study of social dynamics in a digital government working group

详细信息    查看全文

• 作者：Minyoung Ku^a ; ^{mku@ctg.albany.edu}Author Vitae ; J. Ramon Gil-Garcia^b ; ^{jgil-garcia@ctg.albany.edu}Author Vitae ; Jing Zhang^c ; ^{jizhang@clarku.edu}Author Vitae
• 关键词：Digital government research ; Cross-boundary research collaboration ; Dynamics of research collaboration ; Network coevolution ; Social network analysis
• 刊名：Government Information Quarterly
• 出版年：2016
• 出版时间：October 2016
• 年：2016
• 卷：33
• 期：4
• 页码：796-806
• 全文大小：504 K
• 卷排序：33

文摘

Despite the increasing importance of cross-boundary research collaboration to tackle socio-technical challenges in digital government, little is known about how such research collaboration emerges, grows, and comes to fruition. This study investigates the social dynamics of cross-boundary collaboration for digital government research and identifies key variables that can affect the emergence and development of collaborative research networks. Using mixed methods, including social network analysis, we analyzed longitudinal data collected from a North American digital government research group whose members gather across disciplinary, organizational, and geographical boundaries. Social networks among the members heavily influenced the formation and maturation of the research group; face-to-face communication, grant-sharing, and coauthoring relationships coevolved over time in the observed network. It was also found that the impact of telecommunication on this process was limited, while government funding for digital government research played an important role. Based on the main findings, we then developed five propositions for future studies to empirically test.