Our study elucidates relational value creation and appropriation in collaborative networks for sustainability (CNfS), which focus on grand societal challenges and include a multiplicity and diversity of actors. Using a relational view lens, we conducted a longitudinal, multiple case, field study of collaborative networks for sustainability in the circular textile and fashion industry, unpacking the interplay between value creation from relational interdependence, relational-specific assets and material output and the multilevel appropriation of that value. Our findings show that value appropriation is contingent on the perception of use value and cascades through individual, organizational and network levels. The ability of actors to capture cascading value on different levels has a direct influence on sustaining the continuity of value creation and to achieving the shared societal goals of CNfS. We developed a model of value appropriation in CNfS to illustrate the cascading flow of value at micro (individual), meso (organizational) and macro (network) levels. Our study makes novel contributions to the literatures on strategic alliances, cross-sector partnerships, and open innovation networks.
Our study elucidates relational value creation and appropriation in collaborative networks for sustainability (CNfS), which focus on grand societal challenges and include a multiplicity and diversity of actors. Using a relational view lens, we conducted a longitudinal, multiple case, field study of collaborative networks for sustainability in the circular textile and fashion industry, unpacking the interplay between value creation from relational interdependence, relational-specific assets and material output and the multilevel appropriation of that value. Our findings show that value appropriation is contingent on the perception of use value and cascades through individual, organizational and network levels. The ability of actors to capture cascading value on different levels has a direct influence on sustaining the continuity of value creation and to achieving the shared societal goals of CNfS. We developed a model of value appropriation in CNfS to illustrate the cascading flow of value at micro (individual), meso (organizational) and macro (network) levels. Our study makes novel contributions to the literatures on strategic alliances, cross-sector partnerships, and open innovation networks.
Our study elucidates collaborative value creation and private value capture in collaborative networks in a context of sustainability. Collaborative networks that focus on innovative solutions for grand societal challenges are characterized by a multiplicity and diversity of actors that increase the complexity and coordination costs of collective action. These types of inter-organizational arrangements have underlying tensions as partners cooperate to create collaborative value and compete to capture or appropriate value on a private or organizational level, resulting in potential and actual value flows that are highly diffuse and uncertain among actors. We also observe that network participants capture value differentially, often citing the pro-social (e.g. community, belonging, importance) and extrinsic benefits of learning and reputation as valuable, but found it difficult to appropriate economic or social benefits from that value. Differential and asymmetric value appropriation among participants threatens continued network engagement and the potential collective value creation of collaborative networks. Our data indicates that networked value creation and capture requires maintaining resource complementarity and interdependency among network participants as the network evolves. We develop a framework to assess the relational value of collaborative networks and contribute to literature by unpacking the complexities of networked value creation and private value capture in collaborative networks for sustainability.
