Individual Learning Behaviour in Collaborative Networks

This chapter examines the conditions under which individuals are likely to engage with other participants in learning activities during collaborative processes of innovation in the public sector. Drawing on the statistical network methodology of Exponential Random Graph Modelling we show that the formation of tightly clustered learning alliances in collaborations is not something straightforward. Furthermore, the analyses demonstrate that the decision of an individual to show learning behaviour towards another actor in the collaboration mainly depends on whether this other actor shows good, and exemplary, collaborative behaviour or if the other actor sits in a position where his or her involvement accrues power within the collective.

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