A Constructivist Grounded Theory of Cross-Sector Partnership Leadership Involving Canadian Postsecondary Education
Date
2023-10-16
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Abstract
Despite ongoing research into educational leadership and innovation, the theoretical grounds for describing and interpreting actor experiences and change dynamics in education cross-sector partnerships (XSPs) are limited. The purpose of this study was to understand how leaders in a large Canadian education XSP network generated and exchanged knowledge to realize their shared objectives. This trisector network involved post-secondary education, industry, and nonprofit partners, and was formed to address Canada’s talent gaps and lagging innovation performance by recruiting and training postsecondary students and recent graduates to work in startup companies. A constructivist grounded theory methodology was employed and a sample of 40 participants was recruited. Interpretation of interview, survey, observation, and textual data was aided using computer-assisted qualitative data analysis software, a recursive analysis method, and constant comparison. The resulting grounded theory framework indicates that as a partnership deepens from simple operational transactions to more complex adaptive work, greater capacity for emergence is generated. Micro and meso leadership dynamics across the XSP network’s operational-enabling-entrepreneurial capabilities were found to be entangled. Leaders realized their shared objectives through both organized mechanical structures and more flexible opportunities for experimentation. This theory has implications for education XSP leader training that stress the importance of healthy leadership and organizational learning conditions in relational space. A contribution is made to broader educational leadership literature by emphasizing the need for greater use of complex adaptive perspectives in education XSPs. A connection is established between the limitations of complex adaptive perspectives and their overuse in bureaucratic settings.
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cross-sector partnerships, interorganizational collaboration, educational leadership, complex adaptive systems, constructivist grounded theory
Citation
Ribeiro, J. (2023). A constructivist grounded theory of cross-sector partnership leadership involving Canadian postsecondary education (Doctoral thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca.