Practitioners’ perspectives on cross-sector collaborations

The increasing need to collaborate across sectors to tackle complex problems has driven the development of an industry of cross-sector collaboration practitioners. The purpose of this study is to create new understanding about the work of practitioners in cross-sector collaborations. While cross-sector collaboration research has drawn upon the views of such practitioners this has typically been in the context of a single case analysis. The study collected data from 15 interviews to provide further understanding of the work of cross-sector collaboration practitioners. An interpretive analysis of the practitioners’ perspectives was conducted and presented people, processes, collaboration and governance as significant themes in the results. Practitioners identified many elements already present in the existing literature as important to the success of cross-sector collaborations. The results also produced new findings including the need for the principal governance group working on the cross-sector collaboration to have ultimate decision-making authority, the need for bespoke processes for each collaboration, and the importance of place and place attachment in cross-sector collaborations. The study concludes by suggesting further research be conducted on practitioners’ perspectives on governance, government-led collaborations, and the role of place and wisdom in cross-sector collaborations.