Multi-actor Resource Integration: A Service Approach in Public Management

This paper addresses a service approach in public management by highlighting the insufficiently explored concept of resource integration. Specifically, we identify the actors who contribute to such integration, as well as the kind of resources they bring. The empirical material draws from two action research cases in cancer care, suggesting that, for complex challenges, resource-integrating actors may represent public, private and third-sector organizations, citizens/service users, as well as their private spheres. Moreover, resources may be both tangible and, more importantly, intangible. Because all actors in the system are doing the same thing - integrating resources - multi-actor resource integration frames interorganizational collaboration and citizen/user co-production. In contrast to the private sector's foci on profit and customer satisfaction, the gain herein concerns better usage of common resources and addressing public interests - such as access to services that meet the needs of disregarded groups. In the complex realities of contemporary societies, actors from all sectors should help meet such needs through collaborative resource integration rather than competition.