Cross-sector partnerships to address social issues: Challenges to theory and practice

Project-based cross-sector partnerships to address social issues (CSSPs) occur in four arenas: business-nonprofit, business-government, government-nonprofit, and trisector Research on CSSPs is multidisciplinary, and different conceptual platforms are used: resource dependence, social issues, and societal sector platforms. This article consolidates recent literature on CSSPs to improve the potential for cross-disciplinary fertilization and especially to highlight developments it? various disciplines for organizational researchers. A number of possible directions for-future research on the theory, process, practice, method, and critique of CSSPs are highlighted. The societal sector platform is identified as a particularly promising framework for future research.