Collaborative Governance for Innovative Environmental Solutions: Qualitative Comparative Analysis of Cases from Around the World

It is common understanding that to address pressing environmental issues and ensure sustainable environmental management innovative solutions are required. Many studies have striven to understand which governance conditions enable generation of innovative solutions. However, there are very few studies in the field of management and public administration studies that investigate the combined, interactive effects of a suit of conditions on the likelihood of innovative solutions. This article uses the method of qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) to investigate the complex causality of collaborative governance and innovative solutions. More specifically, it examines the combination of conditions of collaborative process, leadership, institutional design and knowledge sharing, and their joint effects on the presence or absence of innovative solutions. An analysis of 16 cases of environmental endeavors with a goal of generating innovative solutions and extracted from Collaborative Governance Case Database shows that there are 3 possible configurations or paths leading to innovative solutions. Various combinations of the above-mentioned conditions can in fact be sufficient for generating innovative solutions. The configurations provide insight into which collaborative conditions deserve attention when aiming for innovation in the field of sustainable environmental management.