Engaged collectives, high performers? A fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis of 14 self-organizing collectives

The emergence of self-organizing collectives has become a marked trend in Western societies and fits a larger cultural and political development (Eriksson 2012; Brandsen 2016; Edelenbos et al. 2016; Gofen 2015). Citizens... [ view full abstract ]

The emergence of self-organizing collectives has become a marked trend in Western societies and fits a larger cultural and political development (Eriksson 2012; Brandsen 2016; Edelenbos et al. 2016; Gofen 2015). Citizens increasingly take responsibility for solving challenges in their communities; because they enjoy the idea of developing new and innovative services (Van der Steen et al. 2013), but also because they believe that other public or private agencies are unlikely or unable to do so (Bailey 2012; Kleinhans 2017). Consequently, all kinds of collectives, such as community enterprises or cooperatives, emerge to complement or even substitute professional services (see for examples Peredo and Chrisman 2006; Kleinhans 2017). In this paper I will examine the relationship between work engagement and performance of these collectives. The aim of the paper is to broaden the methodological scope of research in the field. While much literature in this particular field is based on case studies or surveys, this paper takes a different, configurational, approach. This paper contributes to the literature by systematically examining the interactive impact of three dimensions of work engagement upon the performance of collectives in the care and welfare sector. A qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) will be conducted to study 14 cases. 

About the author: José Nederhand is a PhD candidate at the Department of Public Administration and Sociology at Erasmus University Rotterdam, Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Burgemeester Oudlaan 50, 3062 PA Rotterdam, Mandeville Building, nederhand@essb.eur.nl