This is a study about how participants in a public network understand and construct meanings for their relationships, where this construction of meanings comes from, and the effect they produce in the network operation. Three propositions guide this study. First, the way people interpret their relationships will have consequences on the network’s emergence, change, and outcome. Second, given actors’ diversity and novelty of public networks as a form of organizational interaction, multiple interpretations of relationships are possible. This potential diversity of meanings challenges the stability of network operations. Third, everyday reasoning relies heavily upon culturally available sets of meanings. Thus, a cultural explanation of public networks is not a residual account but a central component. The study applies a qualitative case study approach and relies on ethnographic methods of data collection to uncover the meanings of relationships in the context of an inter-local partnership in Chile. A grounded analysis of empirical material and a complementary social network analysis of network data yielded to propositions about the relations between contextual conditions, network meanings, and consequences of network meaning construction. The study finds no singular but multiple meanings attached to the relationships forming the partnership; together they can describe what members understand as the whole network. The study shows that the meanings of the partnership are grounded on a context constructed by actors based on shared schemata. These schemata shape members’ interpretation of the context and allow them to perceive certain events as opportunities for collective actions from where new meanings of ties emerge. Besides, shared schemata give shape to the operation of the partnership by limiting the range of alternatives and by predisposing members to interact in certain ways. These ways of operation demonstrate functional and non-functional effects. This study conclusion suggests some conceptual and theoretical “turns” that can be incorporated to the study of cultural phenomenon in public networks and three research extensions. / A Dissertation submitted to the Askew School of Public Administration and Policy in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / 2016 / May 20, 2016. / Chilean Municipalities, Cultural phenomenon, Network Management, Public networks, Qualitative approach / Includes bibliographical references. / Ralph S. Brower, Professor Directing Dissertation; Petra L. Doan, University Representative; Frances S. Berry, Committee Member; Lance M. DeHaven-Smith, Committee Member; William Hale Butler, Committee Member.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_752410 |
| Contributors | Arias, Karina (author), Brower, Ralph S. (professor directing dissertation), Doan, Petra L., 1955- (university representative), Berry, Frances Stokes (committee member), DeHaven-Smith, Lance (committee member), Butler, William Hale (committee member), Florida State University (degree granting institution), College of Social Sciences and Public Policy (degree granting college), Askew School of Public Administration and Policy (degree granting departmentdgg) |
| Publisher | Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Language | English, English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, text, doctoral thesis |
| Format | 1 online resource (190 pages), computer, application/pdf |
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