| Abstract: | This article presents an analysis of different network coordinationstrategies. The article extends network management scholarshipby integrating sector-based differences within a theoreticalframework encompassing extant conceptions of network management.Even as the emergent field of network management scholarshipadvances, current research tends to generalize network managementapproaches based on assumptions that organizations behave similarlywithin a network regardless of whether the organizations aregovernmental, nonprofit, or commercial. Consequently, existingresearch does not fully account for whether sector-based differenceshave implications for network management. This article providesevidence that sector-based differences within a network matterbecause the differences provide strategic opportunities andconstraints for managers involved in coordinating mixed-sectornetworks. This article makes several contributions to networkmanagement scholarship. First, this article provides a frameworkthat reviews and situates current conceptions about networkcoordination within a passive-to-active continuum of managerialapproaches. Sectoral differences are situated and integratedwithin this framework. Second, this article provides an empiricallybased investigation of a quasi-natural experiment that examinessector-based differences in mixed-sector workforce developmentnetworks in Boston. The article's findings suggest that integratingsector-based orientations within a passive-to-active networkmanagerial continuum helps clarify and categorize the strategicoptions and trade-offs that managers may consider in coordinatingmultisectoral networks. |
