Networks are increasingly used by policy practitioners to implement public policy. However, evidence that network approaches to implementation are actually beneficial for policy performance is inconclusive. Only recently studies incorporate Social Network Analysis, allowing for the inclusion of specific structural network conditions and their relationship for performance. This research contributes to this growing area of study by exploring the relationship between network position and the performance of projects implemented under European Union Cohesion policy, the EU's regional policy instrument. A mixed methods approach is adopted, including quantitative analysis of all the projects and their performance - financial and physical, and semi-structured interviews. The conclusion is that the inclusion of more actors is not automatically beneficial for performance. Instead the research identifies specific conditions under which organisational actors can improve the probability of better performance.
| Date of Award | 28 Jan 2016 |
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| Original language | English |
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| Awarding Institution | - University Of Strathclyde
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