Title: Organisational learning through public-private partnerships: a human resource management perspective

Authors: Herlin Chien

Addresses: Department of International Affairs, Wenzao Ursuline University of Languages, No. 900 Sec. 1 Mintzu Road, Kaohsiung, Taiwan

Abstract: This paper aims to investigate the nature and location of organisational learning in the public sector from the perspective of human resource management (HRM). The research examines how the quality of social interaction in public-private joint programs affects knowledge flow and the dynamics of organisational learning. To explore this theoretical argument, an empirical analysis of five public-private partnerships (PPP) across different social welfare policy domains is conducted in Taipei, Taiwan. The contributions of this research are fourfold. First, it is one of the few studies to expand HRM to the non-private sector and, especially, to cross-sectoral collaboration. Second, the study views PPP as a potential expansion of governments HR structure and an opportunity to promote organisational learning. Third, this work demonstrates how organisational learning is dependent on social relations between actors. Last, a fundamental distinction between a public and a private organisation is made to suggest that different HRM strategy is required for each.

Keywords: organisational learning; public-private partnerships; PPPs; human resource management; HRM; human resource development; HRD; social interaction; public policy; Taiwan; non-governmental organisations; NGOs; network governance; public sector.

DOI: 10.1504/IJPP.2016.079738

International Journal of Public Policy, 2016 Vol.12 No.3/4/5/6, pp.316 - 338

Received: 10 Oct 2015
Accepted: 15 Apr 2016
Published online: 13 Oct 2016 *

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