Thesis
Built to last: the role of network resilience in sustaining project-based networks
Southern Cross University
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Southern Cross University
2025
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.25918/thesis.545
Appears in Recent Southern Cross PhD Theses
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Abstract
Governments increasingly rely on and fund inter-organisational (IOR) projects to address complex societal, environmental, and economic challenges. These projects, often delivered through Project-Based Networks (PBNs), aim to create long-term public value through sustained impact. However, achieving this impact remains elusive, often resulting in unfulfilled expectations, losses, and unanticipated costs for funders, project members and society. This thesis addresses a critical gap in understanding how PBNs sustain themselves and their impact by taking a relational network-based view and arguing that long-term value depends on the network’s ability to remain resilient over time, beyond any single project. Specifically, it explores sustainability and resilience and their relationship.
This study employs a longitudinal, mixed-methods approach, integrating Social Network Analysis (SNA) with qualitative data. Three Australian PBN case studies from the Farming Together Program (FTP) are examined at three intervals—project initiation, completion, and 18 months post-project. Network data captures pre-existing relationships, project-based exchanges, willingness for future collaboration, and qualitative insights. Secondary data, including project documents and interviews, further inform the analysis.
Key findings reveal that sustainability in PBNs requires resilience; however, the relationship is neither linear nor uniform. Networks with greater resilience capacity, measured through key network characteristics, are better positioned to absorb disruptions, maintain momentum, and adapt to changing circumstances. Nevertheless, resilience is highly context dependent. How resilience capacity is developed, mobilised, and translated into resilience outcomes is influenced by timing, sequencing of disruptions, and network evolution.
Distinct resilience paths were observed. In one case, low initial resilience capacity combined with early cascading disruptions triggered transformational change, ultimately strengthening resilience capacity and resulting in moderate sustainability. In contrast, a case with high initial capacity achieved high sustainability by strategically mobilising this capacity to buffer disruptions and capitalise on opportunities. Crucially, resilience capacity alone is insufficient: where capacity was not effectively mobilised in one case, disruptions remained unresolved and sustainability was low. These divergent pathways show that sustainability depends on both the presence of resilience capacity and how it is mobilised: mitigation and adaptation support ongoing sustainability, while transformation can enable sustainability when adaptation is not possible.
This thesis contributes to literature on inter-organisational relationships, project networks, and social network theory by providing an empirical understanding of how network resilience affects PBN sustainability. It offers a practical framework for assessing resilience and identifies key enabling and constraining conditions that support sustained collaborative impact.
Details
- Title
- Built to last: the role of network resilience in sustaining project-based networks
- Creators
- Amanda Scott
- Contributors
- Robyn Keast (Supervisor) - Southern Cross UniversityDavid Noble (Supervisor) - Southern Cross UniversityHannah Murphy (Advisor) - Southern Cross UniversityLaura Ripoll Gonzalez (Advisor) - Southern Cross University
- Awarding Institution
- Southern Cross University; Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
- Theses
- Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Southern Cross University
- Publisher
- Southern Cross University
- Number of pages
- xvii, 324
- Identifiers
- 991013345139902368
- Copyright
- © Amanda Scott 2025
- Academic Unit
- Faculty of Business, Law and Arts
- Resource Type
- Thesis