Cross-Organisational Collaboration Management of Digital Innovation in the Public Sector - The Case of the Estonian Employment Register

Abstract Cross-organisational collaboration management has been an important topic in academic literature, representing the nexus of modern governance arrangements. Organisational boundaries are becoming increasingly blurry with continuous digitalisation through new interaction patterns, resulting in the proliferation of cross- organisational collaborations across sectors and within the public sector. This study contributes to the existing literature by analysing cross-organisational collaboration management within the public sector through the case of the Estonian Employment Register. The author conducted semi-structured interviews with engaged stakeholders and coded the data with a concept-driven and data-driven coding scheme for the analysis. The interviews were analysed for occurrences and co-occurrences. The case highlights the role of system context (pre-established connections, decentralisation, digital infrastructure), process challenges (differences in perspectives, organisation-centric approach, power imbalances) and management interventions (contingent leadership, shifting roles, trilateral connections) for cross-organisational collaborations. The findings demonstrate the importance of pre-existing informal connections in shaping the available alternatives for instruments. Digitally capable agencies can capitalise on opportunities for digital innovation through their technological capability and reputation. The key challenges remain with expanding the cognitive framework beyond the established interaction arenas to adapt to perspectives beyond the initial networks. The ability to maximise the potential of digital innovation is also contingent on designing compatible human interaction processes to manage machine interactions.