Abstract

This paper explores data and information sharing efforts among local government and nonprofit organizations that serve people experiencing homelessness as part of the City of Austin’s Continuum of Care. These collaborations can be viewed as socio-technical interaction networks that connect people, organizations, and data. Data collection included 31 semi- structured interviews with stakeholders from local government and nonprofit organizations. Results focus on the human value of cooperation. Three common areas defined how cooperation influenced interorganizational collaboration: obtaining funding, using resources efficiently, and providing effective service. These results reveal the frictions and disjunctions that occur as cooperation is understood, valued, and motivated differently among the different organizations. Implications for theory include that cooperation is an important value meriting further attention in social psychology literature on human values. Implications for practice include that organization leaders should have a nuanced understanding of how shared values can foster productive interorganizational collaborations.