Original
Striking multiple balances in cross-sector collaborations: how leaders navigate institutional complexity with interdependent leadership behaviors
Abstract
Abstract In cross-sector collaborations, leaders must navigate the complex and often conflicting demands of the public, business, and nonprofit sectors. This study explores how leaders manage this institutional complexity through a multilevel framework, drawing on a case study of a tri-sector partnership developing technology for disaster management. Based on evidence from 27 interviews, observations, and documentary material, we identify the leadership repertoire and, as our core contribution, uncover four distinct types of interdependencies between these behaviors: enabling, substituting, stabilizing, and inhibiting. Our findings reveal that leadership in cross-sector collaborations goes beyond adopting a single style; rather, it requires a strategic orchestration of how different behaviors interact. We identify two overarching strategies (selective targeting and sequential switching) that leaders use to combine complementary behaviors while preventing them from undermining each other. By focusing on leaders’ microlevel agency in response to macrolevel sector differences, this study provides a clearer understanding of how interdependent leadership behaviors converge into what we theorize as institutional leadership in CSCs.
中文
在跨部门合作中实现多重平衡：领导者如何以相互依赖的领导行为应对制度复杂性
摘要
摘要 在跨部门合作中，领导者必须应对公共部门、企业和非营利部门复杂且往往相互冲突的需求。本研究通过一个多层次框架探讨领导者如何管理这种制度复杂性，并以一个开发灾害管理技术的三部门伙伴关系为案例。基于27次访谈、观察和文献材料所获得的证据，我们识别出领导行为组合，并作为核心贡献揭示这些行为之间四类不同的相互依赖关系：使能性、替代性、稳定性和抑制性。我们的发现表明，跨部门合作中的领导并非采用单一风格，而是需要对不同行为如何互动进行战略性编排。我们识别出两种总体策略（选择性聚焦和顺序切换），领导者借此组合互补行为，同时防止它们彼此削弱。通过关注领导者针对宏观层面部门差异的微观层面能动性，本研究更清晰地揭示了相互依赖的领导行为如何汇聚为我们所理论化的跨部门合作中的制度领导。
关键词
跨部门合作、领导力、制度复杂性、相互依赖的领导行为、制度领导、协作治理、灾害管理、多层次框架