Date of Award

6-26-2026

Date Published

August 2026

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Public Administration

Advisor(s)

Saba Siddiki

Keywords

Adaptive policymaking;Collaborative policymaking;Collective learning;Conflict;Knowledge utilization;Policymaking outputs

Subject Categories

Public Administration | Public Affairs, Public Policy and Public Administration | Social and Behavioral Sciences

Abstract

This dissertation advances the study of collaborative policymaking by examining an underexplored relationship: how the collaborative policymaking processes shape policymaking outputs. Drawing on scholarship on collaborative policymaking, adaptive policymaking, and collective learning, this dissertation proposes and tests three approaches to measuring both processes and outputs, using U.S. Marine Fishery Management Councils as the empirical context. Three essays collectively demonstrate that policymaking outputs are systematically shaped by the dynamics of the collaborative process itself. Essay 1 shows that knowledge diversity among stakeholders affects the passage of council decisions, revealing that engagement with diverse knowledge forms is not always positively associated with decision passage. Essay 2 examines the conditions under which collaborative processes enable the adoption of adaptive policies, demonstrating that diverse stakeholder participation and knowledge utilization are associated with more adaptive policy adoption. Essay 3 introduces a relational perspective by examining how knowledge exchange networks among stakeholders relate to changes in preferred policy instrument settings as a learning output. Methodologically, the dissertation demonstrates the utility of combining computational text analysis, social network analysis, and statistical methods to study collaborative processes and outputs at scale. Theoretically, it establishes empirical links between process variables — knowledge utilization, conflict, stakeholder representation, and knowledge exchange — and three distinct output types: decision passage, adaptive policy adoption, and changes in preferred policy instrument settings. Ultimately, this dissertation argues that understanding collaborative policymaking requires attending to both processes and outputs, as well as their relationship.

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