Sharing is Caring: Networks for Sustainable Development
(2024) BUSN09 20241Department of Business Administration
- Abstract
- Sustainable development requires coordination among multi-level actors to achieve set targets, with networks playing a key role in sharing knowledge and fostering collective actions. These networks’ success hinges on member engagement, but since participation is voluntary, members choose their level of involvement. Despite the importance, factors influencing network engagement remain rather scarce. This study aims to identify what drives engagement in a sustainable development network, using a single case study with semi-structured interviews from member organizations.
This study identifies networking and collaboration, capabilities and knowledge enhancement, and brand positioning are critical factors that drive engagement. The findings... (More) - Sustainable development requires coordination among multi-level actors to achieve set targets, with networks playing a key role in sharing knowledge and fostering collective actions. These networks’ success hinges on member engagement, but since participation is voluntary, members choose their level of involvement. Despite the importance, factors influencing network engagement remain rather scarce. This study aims to identify what drives engagement in a sustainable development network, using a single case study with semi-structured interviews from member organizations.
This study identifies networking and collaboration, capabilities and knowledge enhancement, and brand positioning are critical factors that drive engagement. The findings reveal that networking and collaboration facilitate important connections and collective actions towards sustainability goals. Members are motivated to engage, as it enables them to discuss complex challenges with various actors, helping them to overcome resource constraints and other barriers. Additionally, the prospect of enhancing capabilities and knowledge fosters a culture of innovation and improvement, further motivating engagement. Enhanced brand positioning offers tangible business benefits, such as improved reputation and client attraction, reinforcing members’ commitment to the network.
Based on these findings, this study suggests that engagement should remain voluntary, while network coordinators can make adjustments to further enhance engagement. Furthermore, engagement is highly reliant on the perceived business value of each member, emphasizing the importance of tailoring processes and content within the network to foster engagement. Overall, this thesis emphasizes the importance of understanding contextual factors that foster engagement in networks for sustainable development. This presents an interesting opportunity for further research to increase our understanding of proposed factors and reveal additional ones. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9158811
- author
- Aagaard, Clara LU and Skattner, Ebba LU
- supervisor
-
- Merle Jacob LU
- organization
- alternative title
- A Single Case-Study of Network Engagement for Sustainable Development
- course
- BUSN09 20241
- year
- 2024
- type
- H1 - Master's Degree (One Year)
- subject
- keywords
- Sustainable development, Network governance, Social networks, Network Engagement, Strategic management
- language
- English
- id
- 9158811
- date added to LUP
- 2024-06-25 16:07:37
- date last changed
- 2024-06-25 16:07:37
@misc{9158811,
abstract = {{Sustainable development requires coordination among multi-level actors to achieve set targets, with networks playing a key role in sharing knowledge and fostering collective actions. These networks’ success hinges on member engagement, but since participation is voluntary, members choose their level of involvement. Despite the importance, factors influencing network engagement remain rather scarce. This study aims to identify what drives engagement in a sustainable development network, using a single case study with semi-structured interviews from member organizations.
This study identifies networking and collaboration, capabilities and knowledge enhancement, and brand positioning are critical factors that drive engagement. The findings reveal that networking and collaboration facilitate important connections and collective actions towards sustainability goals. Members are motivated to engage, as it enables them to discuss complex challenges with various actors, helping them to overcome resource constraints and other barriers. Additionally, the prospect of enhancing capabilities and knowledge fosters a culture of innovation and improvement, further motivating engagement. Enhanced brand positioning offers tangible business benefits, such as improved reputation and client attraction, reinforcing members’ commitment to the network.
Based on these findings, this study suggests that engagement should remain voluntary, while network coordinators can make adjustments to further enhance engagement. Furthermore, engagement is highly reliant on the perceived business value of each member, emphasizing the importance of tailoring processes and content within the network to foster engagement. Overall, this thesis emphasizes the importance of understanding contextual factors that foster engagement in networks for sustainable development. This presents an interesting opportunity for further research to increase our understanding of proposed factors and reveal additional ones.}},
author = {{Aagaard, Clara and Skattner, Ebba}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Sharing is Caring: Networks for Sustainable Development}},
year = {{2024}},
}