Measuring the quality of collaborative governance processes

Although during the last two decades the literature on collaborative governance has boomed, the development of measures to assess this phenomenon lags behind. This is especially true for the measurement of processes, since the literature predominantly focuses on effectiveness of collaboration and conditions for the survival of the collaboration, rather than on process quality. Building on frameworks of prominent collaborative governance scholars, this chapter presents an overview of important process qualities that can be used to arrive at process measures. In addition, six assessment methods are discussed. These methods have their specific strengths and weaknesses and their use is contingent upon the objectives of the assessment and resources available. Assessing the collaboration process may inform the design, management and evaluation of these processes and enhance their accountability, but may also contribute to the further theoretical and methodological development of collaborative governance research.