The project e-relocation-notification is a national strategic project of the priority plan of E-Government Switzerland, which aims at the electronic reporting and processing of relocations. This should be possible throughout Switzerland by the end of 2019. The Canton of Zurich has played a pioneering role in the project.
The e-relocation-notification required cooperation that is intergouvernmental and often also intercantonal. In addition, cooperation with private organisations is also required. The problems of complex cooperation in programme implementation include mainly input factors resulting from the interaction of the large number of organisations involved. For example, infrastructure projects usually involve several federal levels, involve a wide range of administrative entities, work together in different constellations and hierarchies (ranging from purely consultative procedures to co-production of the administration with the economy and society) and, lastly, involve different fields of expertise and professions that focus on different social, economic or technical aspects.
The aim of this paper is to evaluate the cooperation efforts. In concrete terms, the following questions are to be answered:
- How is the cooperation output evaluated by participants?
- How does the cooperation affect the success of the project?
- Which factors influence the cooperation?
In order to answer these questions, the relevant literature was first worked out and an impact model for a successful project cooperation within the theory of collaborative governance was developed. The impact model and the hypotheses derived from it were then subjected to an empirical examination (n=36). This is based on a quantitative survey of project participants and qualitative interviews with members of the steering committee and various groups of participants. The results were used to test the effectiveness of the model of effects. The statistical method of the partial least squares (PLS) was used for this purpose, which is used to estimate causal models. It shows that the impact model can basically be adopted. The success of the project depends directly on the fulfilment of assigned tasks and adherence to deadlines. Other factors, such as the resource endowment of the participating organisations and leadership characteristics on the part of the project management indirectly influence the success of the project.Both have a significant influence on the collaboration processes itself. The paper provides an in-depth analysis on how leadership, organization and resources influence the collaboration process.
Furthering network governance theory development: challenges/opportunities, new theoretica
