A Meta-Organizational Perspective on Membership Logics in Transnational Municipal Networks

Abstract Much of the literature on Transnational Municipal Networks (TMNs) emphasizes that such networks are established to address shared challenges and to resolve collective action problems. This literature often implicitly assumes that the same rationale also explains sustained membership. However, membership logics remain undertheorized and underexplored within the TMN field. Drawing on examples from a single TMN, this article argues that meta-organizational theory, with its focus on membership logics, provides a useful lens for analysing membership behaviour and its relationship to the functions and organizational configurations of TMNs.