Drawing upon Oliver’s (1990) framework, the determinants reciprocity, legitimacy and efficiency were identified as consistent themes that emerged across the data. These themes will be discussed in relation to the formation of cooperative education partnerships in a sport tertiary education context.
Reciprocity is based on a perspective that partnerships are formed for the purpose of pursuing mutually beneficial goals or interests. This contingency is consistent with the basis of a stakeholder-integrated approach to cooperative education and was evident in the academic and industry supervisor views:
It’s a partnership where everyone works together for a common goal, although we all gain different things from it. (Academic I1)