Spread the word! Trickle effects of partnerships

Triggered by the many actual partnership activities by organisations in the past fifteen years, both researchers and practitioners have accumulated much knowledge. Most of the shared insights have focused on the partnering organisations and on the societal dimensions of partnerships, the so-called meso and macro levels. Much less attention has been paid to the individuals involved in the partnerships (the micro level), how their actions and interactions can help ‘spread the word’ about cross-sector collaboration, and how this ‘trickles’ from one person to the other, inside and/or outside the partnering organisations. This article explains these aspects further, including the potential value of trickle effects, the state of partnership research and the implications for academics and practitioners.