Linking Collaborative Capacity to Performance Measurement in Government—Nonprofit Partnerships

Abstract

This study uses the context of local government—nonprofit partnerships to test the potential influence of various partnership and organizational factors on collaborative outcomes, using two contrasting outcome measures. Although the structural qualities of effective partnerships are fairly well understood, many of their informal and interpersonal qualities have not been captured in “new governance” research. These include, potentially, the strength of shared goals and trust built on prior joint experience. This study finds that formal contracts and prior experience working with nonprofits and volunteers can increase at least a public manager’s perception of success, but the strongest association to real performance improvement comes from the intensity of shared goals and the level of investment in the partnership. The findings suggest the value in comparing multiple performance measures and also reinforce an understanding of the experiential, interpersonal factors that support collaborative success.