Interrelating Collaboration Practices and Identity Formation in Interorganizational Partnerships

This work studies the process by which interorganizational partnerships develop collective identities, and, in particular, how collaboration practices and identity processes interplay as partnerships evolves through time. We conducted a longitudinal study in a partnership where organizations from different sectors collaborated to realize a science park. We followed the evolution of the partnership across four stages (setup, design, implementation, and redesign), highlighting for each phase how collective identity processes and collaboration practices interplayed. We document that the enthusiasm and urgency in the initial phases led partners to immediately create a strong sense of belongingness to the partnership, which we labelled as swift collective identity. While in the beginning the swift identity mobilized collaboration practices (i.e., precocious alignment), as the partnership evolved, it became dissonant with what partners could actually accomplish together (misalignment), and, after being dismantled and reelaborated, it set the basis for a more gradual, and slow paced identity (realignment). By discussing alternation between swift identities and small collaboration wins, we contribute to a better understanding of the identity-collaboration interplay in interorganizational settings. By connecting identity fluidity with reification and embeddedness, we also contribute to the current conversation on the construction of collective identities.