ABSTRACT
In this chapter, a mixed methods approach is used to unravel the role of civil servants in the performance of community-based initiatives (CBIs). Although these initiatives are often started in reaction to the experience of inadequate public service delivery, contact with civil servants seems inevitable to survive the institutionally dense environment. To date, evidence that is mainly based on qualitative case studies, remains mixed on the question how interaction with civil servants, as a form of linking social capital, relates to the performance of CBIs. By building on social capital and governance theory, governance capacity is used as a perspective to develop and test a model examining if and how exchanging public and societal resources and building cooperative relationships between civil servants and initiatives contributes to tackling community challenges. By combining survey data (N = 671) and qualitative data of three CBIs in the Netherlands, this study finds that exchanging resources and fostering cooperative relationships between initiatives and civil servants are both positively related to the performance of CBIs. Qualitative data are used to analyse developments in governance capacity and to reflect on tensions and opportunities for joint action.
