Interorganizational collaborative capacity: development of a database to refine instrumentation and explore patterns

Abstract

Interorganizational collaborative capacity (ICC) is the capability of organizations (or a set of organizations) to enter into, develop, and sustain interorganizational systems in pursuit of collective outcomes. The objectives of the ICC research program are (1) to understand the success factors that lead to and the barriers that interfere with ICC; (2) to construct diagnostic methods and tools to assess these factors; and (3) to develop methods that contribute to the development of ICC in and among agencies and organizations. The research literature indicates that a major barrier blocking progress in understanding ICC is the absence of reliable, valid measures for the construct. This study addresses this problem. It presents the results of ICC scale development using samples of public sector, defense and security professionals from two areas: Homeland Defense and Security and Defense Acquisition and Contracting. The research presents scales that have very good to excellent internal-consistency reliability and convergent validity. The report then applies the survey to create a profile and do a summary assessment of a major DoD Acquisition and Contracting organization's ICC. The survey factors are integrated into our ICC open systems model. The value of survey results in developing an organization's (or an organizational set's) current ICC is discussed, as are future research directions.