A Relational Approach to Leadership for Multi-Actor Governance

Marc Craps, Inge Vermeesch, Art Dewulf, Koen Sips, Katrien Termeer and René Bouwen
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Marc Craps: Centre for Corporate Sustainability, KU Leuven, 3000 Leuven, Belgium
Inge Vermeesch: Centre for Corporate Sustainability, KU Leuven, 3000 Leuven, Belgium
Art Dewulf: Public Administration and Policy Group, Wageningen University and Research, 6708 PB Wageningen, The Netherlands
Koen Sips: Point Consulting Group, 2800 Mechelen, Belgium
Katrien Termeer: Public Administration and Policy Group, Wageningen University and Research, 6708 PB Wageningen, The Netherlands
René Bouwen: Centre for Organizational Psychology, KU Leuven, 3000 Leuven, Belgium

Administrative Sciences, 2019, vol. 9, issue 1, 1-11

Abstract: Multi-actor governance, in which a broad mix of actors collaborates to deal with complex societal problems, requires a leadership approach that can take into account the dynamic interdependencies between the involved actors. A relational approach to leadership, focusing on processes and practices, is more adequate for that purpose than approaches focusing on individuals and positions. Complexity leadership theory offers such a relational approach to leadership within organizations. In this article, we use complexity leadership theory to capture the emergent leadership processes between organizations. We focus on the characteristics of the informal relations between representatives of different organizations that enable dealing with the often-conflicting goals and values in multi-actor governance. The case of a landfill mining initiative for sustainable materials governance is used as an illustration to clarify the main concepts and arguments.

Keywords: relational approach; inter-organizational collaboration; multi-actor governance; complexity leadership theory; landfill mining (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: L M M0 M1 M10 M11 M12 M14 M15 M16 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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