Strategies of Network Intervention: A Pragmatic Approach to Policy Implementation and Public Problem Resolution through Network Science.

Public administration has produced a significant body of literature on public sector networks, examining network drivers, dynamics, and outcomes. However, this literature has yet to examine networks in terms of intervention, where network mechanisms are manipulated to promote behavioral change and improve social, organizational, and community outcomes. Building on Valente's (2012) typology, we develop a framework for strategies of public sector network intervention. First, we describe the core concepts in the theory of network interventions found primarily in public health. Next, we expand the existing typology of interventions to include macro-institutional strategies suited to public administration settings. We then identify extant public sector literatures that provide the building blocks for a framework for intervention. Finally, we classify the modes of intervention along three dimensions and discuss how each strategy might be implemented in practice. This typology categorizes intervention strategies based on the processes targeted for change (network formation versus network effects), the types of nodes in the network (organizations versus individuals), and the level at which the intervention operates (macro versus micro). We provide scholars and practitioners a useful way to conceptualize where, why, and how network interventions might be deployed. Ultimately, to fulfill the potential of network scholarship in public administration, the field requires a framework for intervention approaches tailored to the relational and interdependent context of public problems.