Interorganizational collaboration characteristics and outcomes: A case study of the Jeddah Festival

Past research has found that a number of the characteristics of stakeholder collaboration are important in achieving desired group and individual outcomes. While these studies have identified various relationships between individual characteristics and selected outcomes, there has been little research on the relative importance of, and interaction between, collaboration characteristics. This research addresses this gap and examines the perceptions of event stakeholders in the Jeddah Festival (JF) held annually in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, regarding the characteristics of collaboration and the collaborative outcomes perceived as important. The research uses content analysis of transcribed interviews conducted with JF stakeholders to identify the characteristics of stakeholder collaboration and collaborative outcomes. A correlation analysis between counts of the various characteristics and outcomes found in the transcripts was then conducted using a Spearman rank correlation. The results identified that governance and trust were the characteristics with the highest correlation with both individual and collective outcomes. This was interpreted as highlighting the perceived importance of these two collaboration characteristics for achieving festival outcomes. The research found that the nature of the collaborative environment is positive in part due to the initial legitimatization process and also due to survivor bias. Overall these findings provide evidence of the interaction between stakeholder collaboration characteristics and outcomes in the JF and provide guidance for how this collaboration may be improved