A sociological systems theory of interorganizational network development in health and social care

In the health and social care sectors of European countries the number of regional interorganizational networks of providers is growing. Since facilitating development of such networks for the purpose of multi-agency working increasingly becomes an issue, theories must be drawn up to understand network development, possible absence of development included. We have taken up the challenge. Based on empirical data and elaborating on the work of authoritative authors we formulated a sociological systems theory on interorganizational network development. Here we present the theory, which is the result of a case study in the Dutch care sector. In our theory, we consider interorganizational networks as social systems. Therefore, we used knowledge from social system theory. However, we added knowledge from interactionism, especially the concept of 'meaning'. It is argued that the combination of both perspectives into one theory allows a better understanding of network development. The concept of 'steering' is the junction where the perspectives meet. Copyright (C) 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.