Testing structural and relational embeddedness in collaboration risk

Abstract

The study investigates the effect of embeddedness, defined as a property of interdependent relations in which organizations are integrated in a network, on collaboration risk emerging from relational uncertainty. Despite efforts to understand the structural effects of network governance, embedded relationships and their influence on collaboration remain relatively unexplored. A case of intergovernmental collaboration for emergency management is used as a test bed to examine the role of embeddedness in disaster networks and to extend the knowledge of collaboration risk within the institutional collective action framework. We hypothesize and test the effect of relational and structural embeddedness on the level of collaboration risk that an organization perceives. Our analysis of 69 organizations engaged in emergency management operations in the Seoul Metropolitan Area, South Korea reveals that both structural and relational embeddedness facilitate organizations to mitigate perceived collaboration risk. The results suggest that reachability secures relief of relational risk, and that commitment relationships bind participants.