Operationalising Theory; a Framework to Explore How Policy Guides Organisational Action

The economic environment and orientation towards non-profit organisations (NPO's ) raises questions around the nature of collaboration among NPO's within policy discourse. This paper illustrates how theory can be used to problematise collaboration between NPOs. It details the development of a framework to delineate three forms of power proposed by Carstensen and Schmidt (2016) to reveal the underlying motivation of policy actors by exploring how collaboration is discursively presented over time. Here the background to the study and the development of the framework are explained. In the context of this conference stream, the methodology presented offers a useful approach to consider how state actors encourage organisations to respond to the sustainability agenda.