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Research Articles

Vol. 18 No. 3

Measuring Boundary-Spanning Behaviors in Community Engagement

Submitted
September 26, 2014
Published
2014-09-26

Abstract

 

Community engagement professionals and partners serve as, work with, study, and build the capacity of boundary spanners. To augment knowledge about these functions, the Weerts– Sandmann Boundary Spanning Conceptual Framework (2010) has been operationalized through a survey instrument to examine community engagement boundary-spanning behaviors by campus-based actors—leaders, faculty, staff, and students—as well as by community-based spanners in different contexts. This article provides an explication of the underlying theoretical constructs and the development and testing process of the instrument, along with applications for multiple audiences. Implications are presented concerning contextual issues of boundary spanning and generalization of boundary-spanning roles across a variety of potential subjects.