School and Business Networks and their Contribution to System Change: Findings from an Interdisciplinary Cross-Case Analysis
Author(s):
Sophie Wiesinger (presenting / submitting)
Conference:
ECER 2013
Network:
21. Emerging Researchers' Group (for presentation at Emerging Researchers' Conference)
Format:
Paper

Session Information

ERG SES D 12, Management and Leadership in Education

Paper Session

Time:
2013-09-09
13:30-15:00
Room:
A-207
Chair:
Lejf Moos

Contribution

Profound changes in the governance of many European school systems have led to new challenges for coordination (Altrichter 2010a). Berkemeyer et al. (2010) understand the networks of schools as a recent answer to these new challenges of internal and external coordination of education systems. In educational research, networks are often discussed with reference to their role as governance mechanisms (Altrichter & Maag Merki 2010, Altrichter 2010b) rather than from the perspective of traditional quantitative network research (as in Scott 2009 or Newman 2006), as in the field of business administration, where networks are well researched phenomena. A first phase of network euphoria was only recently followed by authors from both the educational and the business administration field having proposed undertaking more critical and interdisciplinary research into networks, their functionalities and their role as coordination mechanisms (Sydow 2010c, Berkemeyer et al. 2010, Straus 2010).

The main objective of this paper is to present further findings from a dissertation project, an exploratory interdisciplinary cross-case analysis of interorganisational school and business networks in Austria. This year, the author will be able to present more detailed information after having compared findings from four cases. The main focus lies on identifying the functionalities of networks, their contribution to system change, as well as their social mechanisms and continuity.

 

Research questions:

Main research question:

What is the perceived contribution of school and business networks to change in their respective systems?

 a.) What can we thus learn from comparing existing international research in the fields of business administration and education for understanding networks as governance mechanisms?

 

b.) What can we learn about underlying functionalities and social mechanisms of inter-organisational networks from a cross-case analysis of school and business networks in Austria?

 

c.) What factors contribute to the continuity, stability and success of such networks, enabling sustainable change?

 

The author considers the exploratory, interdisciplinary and governance theory approach of the paper to be a significant contribution to existing network research.

Method

Based on an interdisciplinary comparison of educational network literature and business administration network literature, significant insights are gained through an exploratory approach, where six cases are selected by theoretical sampling and case analyses are based on semi-structured qualitative interviews with network founders, members, non-members and network managers, as well as on document analyses. The number of qualitative interviews per case will be determined by theoretical saturation, whereas the number of cases will be restricted to six due to feasibility restrictions. At this point of research, findings from the comparison of 4 cases will be presented.

Expected Outcomes

The paper will present and discuss findings from an interdisciplinary literature review and preliminary results the first four case analyses. What could be observed so far are fundamental differences in the research focus and interest of education and business administration, especially concerning the understanding of the networks’ constitution, role, management and expected impact. Moreover, the perceived past and future change potential of a network is deducted and explained by interestingly differing concepts, depending on the actors being either involved in business or school networks.

References

Altrichter, H. (2010a): Theory and Evidence on Governance: conceptual and empirical strategies of research on governance in education. In: European Educational Research Journal 9(2), pp. 147-158. Altrichter, H. (2010b). Netzwerke und die Handlungskoordination im Schulsystem. In N. Berkemeyer, W. Bos & H. Kuper (Hrsg.), Netzwerke im Bildungsbereich. Bd. 3: Schulreform durch Vernetzung. Interdisziplinäre Betrachtungen (S. 95–116). Münster: Waxmann. Altrichter, H. & Maag Merki, K. (Hrsg.) (2010). Educational Governance. Bd. 7: Handbuch Neue Steuerung im Schulsystem (1. Aufl.). Wiesbaden: VS Verl. für Sozialwiss. Altrichter, H., Rauch, F. & Rieß, G. (2010). Netzwerkbildung in der österreichischen Schullandschaft. In N. Berkemeyer, W. Bos & H. Kuper (Hrsg.), Netzwerke im Bildungsbereich. Bd. 3: Schulreform durch Vernetzung. Interdisziplinäre Betrachtungen (S. 193–211). Münster: Waxmann. Berkemeyer, N. (Hrsg.) (2009). Netzwerke im Bildungsbereich. Bd. 2: Schulische Vernetzung. Eine Übersicht zu aktuellen Netzwerkprojekten. Münster: Waxmann. Berkemeyer, N., Bos, W. & Kuper, H. (2010a). Netzwerke im Bildungssystem. In N. Berkemeyer, W. Bos & H. Kuper (Hrsg.), Netzwerke im Bildungsbereich. Bd. 3: Schulreform durch Vernetzung. Interdisziplinäre Betrachtungen (S. 11–19). Münster: Waxmann. Scott, J. (2009). Social network analysis. A handbook (2. ed., reprinted.). London: Sage Publ. Newman, M. (2006). Princeton studies in complexity: The structure and dynamics of networks. Princeton, NJ: Princeton Univ. Press. Hölbling, R., Wittwer, H. & Neuhauser, G. (2008). COOL - Cooperatives Offenes Lernen. Booklet. Zugriff am 20. Februar 2011. http://www.cooltrainers.at/fileadmin/impulszentrum/pdf/Cool_Booklet_120x180_lay1.pdf. Straus, F. (2010). Wir brauchen mehr Qualität in der Vernetzung - Anmerkungen aus der Perspektive qualitativer Netzwerkforschung. In N. Berkemeyer, W. Bos & H. Kuper (Hrsg.), Netzwerke im Bildungsbereich. Bd. 3: Schulreform durch Vernetzung. Interdisziplinäre Betrachtungen (S. 151–172). Münster: Waxmann. Sydow, J. (2010c). Vernetzung von Schulen? Betriebswirtschaftliche Erkenntnisse zum Netzwerkmanagement. In N. Berkemeyer, W. Bos & H. Kuper (Hrsg.), Netzwerke im Bildungsbereich. Bd. 3: Schulreform durch Vernetzung. Interdisziplinäre Betrachtungen (S. 33–48). Münster: Waxmann.

Author Information

Sophie Wiesinger (presenting / submitting)
University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria
School of Management
Steyr

Update Modus of this Database

The current conference programme can be browsed in the conference management system (conftool) and, closer to the conference, in the conference app.
This database will be updated with the conference data after ECER. 

Search the ECER Programme

  • Search for keywords and phrases in "Text Search"
  • Restrict in which part of the abstracts to search in "Where to search"
  • Search for authors and in the respective field.
  • For planning your conference attendance, please use the conference app, which will be issued some weeks before the conference and the conference agenda provided in conftool.
  • If you are a session chair, best look up your chairing duties in the conference system (Conftool) or the app.