FROM GOVERNANCE VOID TO INTERACTIVE GOVERNING BEHAVIORS IN NEW RESEARCH NETWORKS

This paper reports on a longitudinal field study of research networks comprising many diverse, but legally autonomous, industrial and academic organizations. In such newly forming networks, we found that participants were challenged with governance issues while seeking to cocreate opportunities for breakthrough research. As we studied these research networks in real time, we discovered how the governance void was navigated by three interactive governing behaviors: persistent yet selective participation, rule authoring, and the harnessing of multivocality. These interactive behaviors influenced how authority was gained and exercised, and how conflicts were resolved amid resourcing from multiple organizations in early network formation. Through this research, we contribute the discovery of a governance void and the identification of particular interactive behaviors across heterogeneous networks to the governance literature. We conclude with future research questions.