Public-Private Collaboration, Hybridity and Social Value: Towards New Theoretical Perspectives

Focusing on the collaboration intersecting public, non-profit and private spheres of economic activity, we analyse the conceptual forms of hybridity embedded in these novel inter-organizational arrangements, and link them to different mechanisms of creating social value. We first disentangle alternative notions of hybrid arrangements in existing literature by proposing a conceptual typology on two theoretically complementary yet distinct dimensions: hybridity in governance and hybridity in organizational logics. We show how both forms of hybridity can jointly occur in complex public-private and cross-sector collaborations, and propose the notion of value as a crucial bridging point between these perspectives. Crucially, we develop a conceptual framework on key theoretical mechanisms leading to economic and social value in these inter-organizational collaborations. Our work deepens the understanding of how diverse, hybrid forms of collaboration can create value and builds critical links between previously disparate streams of literature on public-private interaction, cross-sector collaboration and social enterprises.