Effect of Policy Network Collaboration on Public Policy Process Outcomes in the Road Transport Sector in Nairobi City County, Kenya
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.47672/ajppa.1332Keywords:
Process networks, network collaboration, policy process, policy outcomes, road transport sectorAbstract
Purpose: Policy networks approach has gained prominence among scholars due to myriad complex problems in public policy processes and management. Yet, many policies are designed and implemented without meaningful participation of citizens particularly through the informal institutions of policy networks. Despite its vital role in allowing different stakeholders to come together, share their expertise and knowledge, and work to create effective solutions to public policy issues many public making processes seems to have considered policy network collaborations to low extent. Furthermore, other benefits of policy network collaborations such as allowing different perspectives to be heard and considered leading to more informed and effective public policy. Considering that, this study interrogated the effect of policy network collaboration on public policy process outcomes in the road transport sector in Nairobi City County, Kenya.
Methodology: The study adopted a descriptive research design. The target population of the study was 470 policy actors in the road transport sector within Nairobi City County out of which 407 were purposefully sampled to respond to the questionnaire and 45 were sampled to participate in focused group discussions as well as key informant interviews. The sampling approach adopted was a purposeful sampling procedure. A mixed methodology was adopted whereby both quantitative and qualitative data was collected through structured questionnaires, key informant interviews and focused group discussions. The quantitative data was analyzed through descriptive statistics that is mean, frequencies and percentages as well as regression analysis. On the other hand, qualitative data was analysed through thematic analysis and reported in a narrative format.
Findings: The findings established that the level of policy network collaboration involving but not limited to information sharing, cooperation and agreement in road transport sector within Nairobi City County, Kenya was very high which was associated with a positive and significant effect on policy process outcomes.
Recommendations: The study recommends the policy makers and stakeholders in the transport sector in Nairobi City County to develop a shared understanding of the public policy process, increase transparency and communication in the process, encourage cross-sector collaboration, utilize technology in enhancing collaboration as well as develop a culture of trust in the policy making process as a way of improving policy network collaboration.
Downloads
References
Almeida, L. D. A., & Gomes, R. C. (2018). The process of public policy: literature review, theoretical reflections and suggestions for future research. Cadernos EBAPE. BR, 16, 444-455.
Ansell, C., & Torfing, J, (2017). Strengthening political leadership and policy innovation through the expansion of collaborative forms of governance. Public Management Review, 19(1), 37-54.
Behrens, R., McCormick, D., Orero, R. & Ommeh, M. (2015). Cooperatives as a means of paratransit reform: Case studies of inter-city matatu savings and credit cooperatives in Kenya. Southern African Transport Conference.
Behrens, R., McCormick, D., Orero, R., & Ommeh, M. (2017). Improving paratransit service: Lessons from inter-city matatu cooperatives in Kenya. Transport Policy, 53, 79-88.
Berardo, R., & Feiock, R. (2014). Solving institutional collective action problems in multiplex networks. Complexity, Governance & Networks, 1(1), 49-60.
Berardo, R., & Lubell, M. (2016). Understanding what shapes a polycentric governance system. Public Administration Review, 76(5), 738-751.
Biddle, J. C., & Koontz, T. M. (2014). Goal specificity: A proxy measure for improvements in environmental outcomes in collaborative governance. Journal of environmental management, 145, 268-276.
Carboni, J. L., Saz-Carranza, A., Raab, J., & Isett, K. R. (2019). Taking dimensions of purpose-oriented networks seriously. Perspectives on Public Management and Governance, 2(3), 187-201.
Christopoulos, D., & Ingold, K. (2015). Exceptional or just well connected? Political entrepreneurs and brokers in policy making. European political science review, 7(3), 475-498.
Cinar, E., Trott, P., & Simms, C. (2019). A systematic review of barriers to public sector innovation process. Public Management Review, 21(2), 264-290.
Collingwood, L., O'Brien, B. G., & El-Khatib, S. O. (2019). The politics of refuge: Sanctuary cities, crime, and undocumented immigration. Urban Affairs Review, 55(1), 3-40.
Hamilton, M., Hileman, J., & Bodin, Ö. (2020). Evaluating heterogeneous brokerage: New conceptual and methodological approaches and their application to multi-level environmental governance networks. Social Networks, 61, 1-10.
Ingold, K., & Leifeld, P. (2016). Structural and institutional determinants of influence reputation: A comparison of collaborative and adversarial policy networks in decision making and implementation. Journal of public administration research and theory, 26(1), 1-18.
Jasny, L., & Lubell, M. (2015). Two-mode brokerage in policy networks. Social Networks, 41, 36-47.
Kandziora, J. H., Van Toulon, N., Sobral, P., Taylor, H. L., Ribbink, A. J., Jambeck, J. R., & Werner, S. (2019). The important role of marine debris networks to prevent and reduce ocean plastic pollution. Marine pollution bulletin, 141, 657-662.
Klijn, E. H., & Koppenjan, J. F. (2000). Public management and policy networks: foundations of a network approach to governance. Public Management an International Journal of Research and Theory, 2(2), 135-158.
Klopp, J. (2015). Politics, policy and paratransit: A view from Nairobi. In Paratransit in African cities (pp. 95-115). Routledge.
Klopp, J. M., & Petretta, D. L. (2017). The urban sustainable development goal: Indicators, complexity and the politics of measuring cities. Cities, 63, 92-97.
Klopp, J. M., & Cavoli, C. (2019). Mapping minibuses in Maputo and Nairobi: engaging paratransit in transportation planning in African cities. Transport Reviews, 39(5), 657-676.
Koliba, C., Meek, J. W., & Zia, A. (2017). Governance networks in public administration and public policy. Routledge.
Lecy, J. D., Mergel, I. A., & Schmitz, H. P. (2014). Networks in public administration: current scholarship in review. Public Management Review, 16(5), 643-665.
Locatelli, B., Pramova, E., Di Gregorio, M., Brockhaus, M., Chávez, D. A., Tubbeh, R., ... & Perla, J. (2020). Climate change policy networks: connecting adaptation and mitigation in multiplex networks in Peru. Climate Policy, 20(3), 354-372.
Lubell, M., Robins, G., & Wang, P. (2014). Network structure and institutional complexity in an ecology of water management games. Ecology and society, 19(4).
McCormick, K., Staffas, L. & Gustavsson, M. (2013). Strategies and policies for the bioeconomy and bio-based economy: An analysis of official national approaches. Sustainability, 5(6), 2751-2769.
Mitullah, W. V., & Opiyo, R. (2017). Non-motorized transport infrastructure provision on selected roads in Nairobi. In Non-Motorized Transport Integration into Urban Transport Planning in Africa (pp. 90-111). Routledge.
Mitullah, W. V., Vanderschuren, M.J., Khayesi, M. (2017). Non-motorized transport integration into urban transport planning in Africa. New York, NY, USA: Routledge.
Mutongi, K. (2017). Matatu: A history of popular transportation in Nairobi. University of Chicago Press.
Nonnecke, B. M. (2016). The transformative effects of multistakeholderism in Internet governance: A case study of the East Africa Internet Governance Forum. Telecommunications Policy, 40(4), 343-352.
Onencan, A. M., Enserink, B., & Van de Walle, B. (2019). Sustainability indicators: Monitoring cross-county water cooperation in the Nzoia river basin, Kenya. Sustainability, 11(3), 560.
Oraro-Lawrence, T., & Wyss, K. (2020). Policy levers and priority-setting in universal health coverage: a qualitative analysis of healthcare financing agenda setting in Kenya. BMC health services research, 20(1), 1-11.
Sabatier, P. A., & Weible, C. M. (Eds.). (2014). Theories of the policy process. Westview press.
Sohn, J. (2018). Navigating the politics of evidence-informed policymaking: strategies of influential policy actors in Ontario. Palgrave Communications, 4(1), 1-12.
Stone, D., & Moloney, K. (Eds.). (2019). The Oxford handbook of global policy and transnational administration. Oxford University Press.
Torfing, J. (1999). New governance and the transformation of European administration. West European Politics, 22(2), 5-26.
Torfing, J. (2019). Collaborative innovation in the public sector: The argument. Public Management Review, 21(1), 1-11.
Uberti, T. E., & Salsano, F. (2020). Institutions and Civil Society Relations in Migori County (Kenya): A Social Network Analysis of Weak and Strong Ties. International Journal of Business and Management, 15(11).
Ulibarri, N., & Scott, T. A. (2017). Linking network structure to collaborative governance. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 27(1), 163-181.
Ulibarri, N. (2019). Collaborative governance: a tool to manage scientific, administrative, and strategic uncertainties in environmental management?. Ecology and Society, 24(2).
Williams, S., White, A., Waiganjo, P., Orwa, D., & Klopp, J. (2015). The digital matatu project: Using cell phones to create an open-source data for Nairobi's semi-formal bus system. Journal of Transport Geography, 49, 39-51.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2023 Cornelius Ombagi, Prof. David Minja, Dr. Wilson Muna
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) 4.0 License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgment of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
