Multidimensional Publicness and Collaboration for Community Benefits: The Case of U.S. Hospitals

摘要

Abstract Recent research on publicness has called for nuanced attention to various aspects of publicness and their effects; in the meantime, public value research has remained largely theoretical and qualitative, calling for more empirical testing. Integrating these two different but related areas in the literature, this article examines how three publicness dimensions (regulative, normative, and cultural publicness) affect organizations’ collaborative activities for community benefits. Using data from the 2009 American Hospital Association survey, this article shows that all three dimensions are positively associated with hospitals’ collaboration for community benefits. Implications for future research on publicness, public value, and collaboration are discussed.