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Representation roles and constituency communication - An analysis of the stakeholder-representatives who took part in the participatory visioning project MijnBorne2030

Erkelens, Menno van (2013) Representation roles and constituency communication - An analysis of the stakeholder-representatives who took part in the participatory visioning project MijnBorne2030.

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Abstract:Little is known about the relationship between the representational role orientation of stakeholder-representatives in participatory policymaking and their constituency communication behaviour. This study provides a small contribution to this ‘blind spot’ in the existing scientific knowledge by taking a closer look at a unique participatory policy process: the participatory visioning project ‘MijnBorne2030’. MijnBorne2030 was a project that the municipality of Borne initiated in 2010 for the renewal of its community vision. What made MijnBorne2030 so unique was that the city council delegated the development of the new vision to the social partners. A steering committee was formed for the implementation of the project, composed of representatives from various social organizations and associations (entrepreneurs, housing corporations, district representatives, health care, sports, education, youth and elderly people). The members of this steering committee had a dual responsibility. On the hand they were considered to maintain close contact with their constituents, to determine their priorities and to communicate these to the other representatives in the steering committee. On the other hand they had to develop a shared vision for the future of Borne as a whole. This study focuses on the stakeholder-representatives who took part in this steering committee during MijnBorne2030. The empirical research examines the influence of their representational role orientations and their valuation of constituency communication on the intensity of their constituency communication during MijnBorne2030. A survey-design was selected as overall research strategy to implement the empirical research. Research data were obtained through an online questionnaire, which was distributed to all representatives who took part in the steering committee during the participatory project. Based on the results of the empirical research it can be concluded that representatives’ representational role orientation did have a positive effect on their valuation of constituency communication. Valuation of constituency communication did, in turn, have a positive effect on the intensity of their constituency communication. Role orientation did have an indirect effect on intensity of constituency communication, which runs via the intermediate variable valuation of representativeconstituency communication. Despite several limitations, this study is an interesting first small step towards a better understanding of the relationship between the representational role orientation of stakeholder-representatives in participatory policymaking and their constituency communication behaviour. By studying the stakeholder-representatives who took part in the steering committee during MijnBorne2030, this research provided a groundwork that can be useful for future research on this topic.
Item Type:Essay (Master)
Faculty:BMS: Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences
Subject:88 social and public administration
Programme:Public Administration MSc (60020)
Link to this item:https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/63902
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