An analytical study on factors affecting the collaboration network between local social policy actors: The case of Kocaeli

Inter-agency collaboration networks, which have emerged as a method of providing alternative service in terms of social policies and have become quite popular recently, constitute the focus of this thesis. This study aims to reveal the pattern of relations between actors involved in the implementation of social policy at the local level and to explain what are the factors that affect collaboration. For this general purpose, a survey was conducted with the managers or social policy responsibility officers of 133 institutions engaged in social policy in Kocaeli. The data obtained by two different survey forms were analyzed by using SPSS, AMOS and UCINET programs. Frequency and percentage distributions, comparison of group means, confirmatory factor analysis, hypothesis testing by path analysis and social network analysis were used as data analysis technique. When the findings of the research are examined, there is a significant relationship between communication, institutional capacity and organizational culture variables with collaboration network variable. There is no significant relationship between leadership and political culture with collaboration network. In addition, there is a significant relationship between communication variable and institutional capacity variable and between leadership variable and organizational culture variable. When the structure of the collaboration networks between institutions among local social policy actors is examined, it is seen that the network consists of 285 institutions and there are 1810 ties between these 285 institutions. The density of the collaboration network is 2%. While 310 of the existing relationships in the network are reciprocal, 1500 are one-way. The share of these reciprocal ties in total collaboration rate is 17%. According to the results of the degree centrality analysis based on incoming and outgoing connections, Provincial Directorate of Family and Social Policies, Kocaeli Metropolitan Municipality, Kocaeli Governorship, Provincial Directorate of National Education and İŞKUR are the most effective and powerful actors in the network. According to the results of the betweenness centrality analysis, which makes it easier to identify the new developments and the news and is a bridge in the local social policy network, Provincial Directorate of Family and Social Policies, Kocaeli Metropolitan Municipality, Kızılay, Kocaeli Governorship, Provincial Health Directorate and Youth and Sports Province Directorate has been determined as the institutions having the highest value. When both the centrality analyzes and the visual map of the collaboration network are evaluated together, it is seen that the central public institutions and local governments are more important and central in the network, while the non-governmental organizations and the private sector are mostly in the vicinity of the network. Non-state actors are quite ineffective in establishing qualitative relationships, even though they exist in the network quantitatively. When collaborations established between social policy actors are analyzed according to their level of collaboration, the most ties is realized at the level of co-operation. There is information sharing between institutions at the level of co-operation, but there are no long-term formal relationships. It is understood that social policy actors are more prone to less costly and less binding collaborations, and less frequently to relations that formally bind themselves.