Network Structure, Resource Exchange, and Motivations of Partnerships in a Community-Based Elderly Care Network

Countries around the world have increasingly relied on collaborative governance of public, nonprofit, and business sectors to deliver publicly funded services. In particular, networks as one type of collaborative arrangements have attracted much attention and become a popular mode of delivering health and human services (Kettl 2006; O’Leary, Gerard, and Bingham 2006; Agranoff 2007; Milward and Provan 2006; Goldsmith and Eggers 2004; Meier and O’Toole 2001). After 30 years of reform, alternative modes of public service provision—contracting out, grants, subsidies, and vouchers—have been widely adopted by China’s local governments. There is also an increasing interest in the formation of service delivery networks. The interest in networked governance has been spurred by the recognition of the complex and interdependent nature of the problems that the Chinese society deals with. For example, in an aging society, seniors often have multiple problems, such as poor health, mental illness, inadequate housing, and financial difficulties, that are difficult to be adequately addressed by a single service organization. To satisfy these complex needs, the policymakers and public managers at all levels of government are increasingly encouraging the formation of community-based networks that assume responsibility for providing publicly funded social services.