Collaborating on the Edge of Failure: Frame Alignment across Multiple Interaction Arenas in Multi-Stakeholder Partnerships

One of the greatest challenges of multi-stakeholder partnerships lies in forging a shared understanding and obtaining and sustaining commitment among parties representing different interests and goals. While studies have emphasized the importance of developing shared frames for enabling collaboration and collective action through frame alignment, scant attention has been paid to how stakeholder representatives can attain commitment from their constituents “back home” to frames negotiated on their behalf. Our longitudinal process study explores how participants in the German Partnership for Sustainable Textiles successfully confronted the challenge of aligning frames across multiple interaction arenas, highlighting how failing to tackle this “two-table problem” can risk partnership collapse. Our process model captures how back-and-forth interactions enabled the stretching of shared frames across interaction arenas, thereby propelling the partnership from near collapse to deepened commitments. While stretching frames heightens the risk of frame break, our analysis shows how such iterative ongoing efforts are essential for deepening commitments and advancing collaboration. We thus contribute to framing theory by highlighting how frame alignment can be achieved across multiple interaction arenas by “collaborating on the edge of failure.” We further contribute to scholarship on multiparty collaboration by unpacking the multi-table negotiation dynamics that help explain collaborative outcomes.