Organisational Mediation in Public Participation in Water Governance

Purpose: This article examines why formal requirements for participation often lead to symbolic or compliance-oriented practices rather than meaningful engagement. It presents an organisation-centred conceptual framework that explains how participation outcomes emerge from the interaction of external governance pressures, organisational capacity, administrative culture, process design and institutional responsiveness.Design/methodology/approach: The article is primarily conceptual and synthesises literature on public participation, organisational behaviour and administrative culture to develop a sequential analytical model. Qualitative material from document analysis, semi-structured interviews and participant observation is used to illustrate and explore the framework in administrative practice, with Kosovo’s water governance serving as an illustrative context.Findings: The conceptual framework suggests that formal alignment with participation requirements does not necessarily lead to meaningful engagement. Rather, participation outcomes are shaped by interconnected organisational conditions and processes, including administrative capacity, coordination, organisational culture, process design and institutional responsiveness. The example of water governance in Kosovo illustrates how these conditions may influence the design and implementation of participation processes, highlighting the framework’s analytical relevance without providing empirical validation.Academic contribution to the field: By integrating participation research with implementation theory and public administration, the article explains how organisational conditions mediate the relationship between formal participation requirements and participation outcomes. It contributes to public administration theory by shifting the focus from formal rules to organisational mediation and proposing a set of theoretically grounded propositions.Research/practical/social implications: The framework highlights the importance of strengthening organisational capacity, coordination and institutionalised responsiveness. It suggests that improving participation requires aligning external governance incentives with internal organisational capabilities and learning processes, rather than focusing primarily on procedural compliance.Originality/significance/value: The article offers an integrated explanation of persistent gaps between formal participation requirements and practical outcomes. By combining insights from several strands of literature and illustrating their relevance in Kosovo, it offers a transferable analytical approach to studying participation in different governance settings.