The Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act, 2015 aspires to generate action directed towards ecologically sustainable national well-being through cross-sector collaboration. Yet this aspiration faces the twin challenges of reconciling diverse interests and including both ecological and human-centric approaches to well-being. Therefore, the main aim of this research was to understand whether and how cross-sector collaboration can include diverse interests in pursuit of national well-being.
The large body of literature on cross-sector collaboration predominantly focusses on the management of either interpersonal relationships or interorganisational arrangements. A key finding across both approaches is that some sectors or organisations’ interests tend to dominate because of the exercise of power in diverse forms. Theories of governance networks are divided on whether these power dynamics can be changed. Although cross-sector networks have the creative agency to develop a culture that equally includes diverse interests, prevalent societal beliefs and practices perpetuate hierarchical control in favour of selective interests. The strategic-relational approach offers a way to bridge this divide but requires further development of governance theory to explain how reflexive rationality might be created in networks and how reflexively rational networks interact with societal culture.
Therefore, my research question was: Whether and how can cross-sector collaboration transform power relations to support action directed towards ecologically sustainable national well-being in Wales?
I took a critical-realist approach to identify the real effects of hidden power relations and opportunities for transformation. Based on the critical and relational principles of action research, I designed a systemic enquiry to co-produce critical awareness and actionable knowledge with my main research partners, Gwynedd and Anglesey Public Services Board (‘the PSB’) and North Wales Wildlife Trust. I helped to establish two core research groups as critical-relational communities of practice (CoPs) and compared their experiences with those of the PSB and wider streams of enquiry across regional and national levels in Wales.
The critical-relational systemic enquiry revealed how a hierarchical and individualised culture constrained the PSB’s capacity to negotiate consensus and risked it losing legitimate authority over its well-being objectives. In contrast, the core research groups managed to negotiate consensus on joint action, based on a conscious and critical belief in reciprocal interorganisational relationships. Through an abductive dialogue between the data and existing knowledge, I developed a theoretical statement of the dynamics of cross-sector collaboration embodying three main arguments. First, cross-sector collaboration can transform power relations by creating reflexive rationality in the network and its meta-governance. Second, reflexive rationality can be created in networks by developing them into critical-relational CoPs. Third, the critical beliefs and practices of CoPs can change power relationships between networks and societal culture through a dynamic strategically adaptive process of cultural embedding.
I conclude that my research partners and others who engage in cross-sector collaboration can generate action directed at ecologically sustainable national well-being by developing and sustaining reflexive rationality. Reflexive rationality can be developed by (re)shaping cross-sector networks into critical-relational CoPs that create a culture of dialogue amongst diverse perspectives, critical reflection on practice and shared ownership and leadership. Reflexive rationality can be sustained by extending the negotiated consensus in interactions with changes in societal culture and structures associated with the Well-being of Future Generations Act.