Doctoral Panel Track

Public organisations both internationally and in Australia are exploring networked governance arrangements particularly in seeking to resolve wicked social problems that impact on the community. Engaging more effectively with stakeholders is crucial in the search for effective solutions to complex social problems. The objective of this research is to understand how the level of interdependency between organisations and stakeholders contributes to development of network governance in public organisations. An empirical analysis will show how stakeholders are incorporated into the governance processes of network entities in public organisations. In particular, this study will focus on how stakeholder salience i.e. stakeholder power, urgency and legitimacy, is impacted by the level of interdependence between organisations and stakeholders. This paper will provide a critical analysis of the literatures of stakeholders and network governance to show how the concepts are connected and the gaps in the literature relating to interdependency between stakeholders and organisations in governance networks