Hybrids of Hybrids? Plural Forms of Collaboration and the Social Value of Public Initiatives

Abstract

This is the accepted version of the paper.This version of the publication may differ from the final published version. Permanent HYBRIDS OF HYBRIDS? PLURAL FORMS OF COLLABORATION AND THE SOCIAL VALUE OF PUBLIC INITIATIVES AbstractAlthough public initiatives often involve multiple collaborative (hybrid) arrangements between for-profit, nonprofit, and public actors, we still lack a consolidated framework explaining how a single public initiative can involve multiple types of collaboration in tandem. We examine three concurrent hybrids-public collaborations with for-profit firms, with non-profit organizations, and between units of the public bureaucracy-and use fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) to unveil configurations consistent with social value creation (evidence of social impact) based on a unique set of 24 public initiatives in Brazil, India, and South Africa. We find configurations involving multiple or plural types of collaboration ("hybrids of hybrids") and inductively propose theoretical mechanisms explaining contingent synergistic effects of those hybrids as a function of their resource complementarity and perceived legitimacy.