Joshua Maine: latest PhD graduate at the Center for Municipality Governance

Joshua Maine's thesis is entitled "Control in hybrid organisations: A study of board and management practices". This thesis is a collection of three separate papers, and as the title suggests, offers empirical insights into board and management practices in the control of hybrid organisations.

Hybrid organisations, such as municipal corporations (MCs), operate at the intersection of public, private, and social mandates. This convergence creates complex accountability environments shaped by multiple, and often conflicting, institutional logics. While hybridity allows organisations to pursue diverse objectives, it also introduces tensions that complicate the coherence of organisational control structures. In MCs, political oversight, market-driven imperatives, and social responsibilities intersect, creating dynamic governance challenges. Yet, the mechanisms through which these organisations manage such complexity remain underexplored.

This dissertation addresses this gap by examining how the hybridity of MCs shapes organisational control and accountability. It explores how hybrid organisations navigate tensions between economic, social, and environmental goals within institutional settings marked by competing logics.

The research is structured around three interconnected studies. The first is a systematic literature review that maps key themes in MC research and identifies the dual pressures of economic performance and public service delivery. The second study introduces the concept of ambidextrous sustainability, analysing how top managers balance short-term operational demands with long-term sustainability objectives. It also investigates how organisational structures moderate the relationship between sustainability strategies and performance. The third study focuses on the strategic apex, examining how key actors manage accountability tensions and align stakeholder expectations within hybrid governance frameworks.

Together, these studies provide practical insights into how MCs navigate institutional plurality and balance competing demands. They highlight how formal and informal controls interact, and how accountability structures evolve to reflect hybrid organisational realities. The findings offer a deeper understanding of how MCs can maintain strategic coherence while delivering on both commercial and public service mandates.

This dissertation contributes to ongoing discussions in research and practice by illuminating how hybrid public-sector organisations can strengthen governance, improve accountability, and support more effective organisational outcomes.

For more information, please contact:

Joshua Maine, joshua.maine@ju.se