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

摘要

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. (C) 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.