The Coevolution of Perceptions of Procedural Fairness and Link Formation in Self-Organizing Policy Networks

A key variable to foster cooperation in groups is the perception among members that the process of making decisions is fair to everyone involved, yet little is known about how these perceptions coevolve with the interactions that take place within the groups. In this article, I use a stochastic actor-oriented model to examine the coevolution of perceptions of procedural fairness and the establishment of relationships among organizations in self-organizing policy networks in five U.S. estuaries. These networks form and evolve as their members seek to address important environmental problems that affect multiple jurisdictions. Findings show that participation in networks does not affect perceptions of procedural fairness; instead, the latter affect the former, i.e., stakeholders create ties with other actors with similar perceptions of how fair decision-making processes are. These results have important implications for our understanding of how governance institutions should be designed to find collaborative solutions to policy problems.