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Collaboration And Identity Formation In Strategic Interorganizational Partnerships: An Exploration Of Swift Identity Processes, Paula Ungureanu, Fabiola Bertolotti, Elisa Mattarelli, Francesca Bellesia May 2019

Collaboration And Identity Formation In Strategic Interorganizational Partnerships: An Exploration Of Swift Identity Processes, Paula Ungureanu, Fabiola Bertolotti, Elisa Mattarelli, Francesca Bellesia

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

We investigate how collective identity formation processes interplay with collaboration practices in an inter-organizational partnership promoting regional innovation. We found that initial collaboration challenges are dealt with by setting up an early “swift identity” which is associated with material artifacts to increase its strength and stability (“swift identity reification”). However, as the partnership evolves, the reified identity becomes misaligned with partners’ underdeveloped collaboration practices. To ensure realignment, new attempts at reification are performed, as partners buy time for learning how to collaborate. Our findings contribute to extant identity research by proposing alternative (i.e. “swift” and “reified”) mechanisms of identity formation …


Making Matters Worse By Trying To Make Them Better? Exploring Vicious Circles Of Decision In Hybrid Partnerships, Paula Ungureanu, Fabiola Bertolotti, Elisa Mattarelli, Francesca Bellesia Jun 2018

Making Matters Worse By Trying To Make Them Better? Exploring Vicious Circles Of Decision In Hybrid Partnerships, Paula Ungureanu, Fabiola Bertolotti, Elisa Mattarelli, Francesca Bellesia

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

Our research is concerned with how and why vicious circles of decision occur in hybrid partnerships. The literature reports three types of decision dysfunctions that can alter the trajectory of multi-stakeholder collaborations: escalation of commitment, procrastination and indecision. While previous studies focused on one dysfunction at a time, we inquire about cases in which dysfunctions coexist and interact in the same partnership. Employing multiple sources of qualitative data, we conducted a longitudinal field study in a cross-sector partnership that co-created and managed a science park. We offer an in-depth account of ‘vicious circles of decision’ in which partners’ attempts to …