Volume 37, Issue 1 p. 75-87
RESEARCH ARTICLE

Network learning and trust: A case study of a benchmarking network

Lars G. Dietrichson

Corresponding Author

Lars G. Dietrichson

Department of Economics and Business Economics, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark

Correspondence

Lars G. Dietrichson, Department of Economics and Business Economics, Aarhus BSS, Aarhus University, Fuglesangs Allé 4, DK-8210 Aarhus, Denmark.

Email: ldietrichson@econ.au.dk

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Per Nikolaj Bukh

Per Nikolaj Bukh

Department of Business and Management, Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark

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First published: 01 May 2020

Abstract

When organizations engage in learning from each other through self-governed networks, they may encounter challenges regarding confidentiality. This is particularly true if external accountability needs of the network participants conflict with internal accountability among participants and/or network-level objectives. This study shows how important it is to have specific agreements about not using findings for accountability outside the network. Empirical evidence comes from a longitudinal case study of a benchmarking project involving six independent public sector companies. Based on reciprocal trust among the participants, the promise of confidentiality was made up front and enforced throughout the network collaboration by the participants themselves.

CONFLICT OF INTEREST

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT

The data is not publicly available due to privacy or ethical restrictions.

The full text of this article hosted at iucr.org is unavailable due to technical difficulties.