Assessing and explaining interagency collaboration performance: a comparative case study of local governments in China

ABSTRACT

This study assesses and explains interagency collaboration performance in the Chinese public sector. Through a comparative case study, it shows that inter-organizational relation is hard to start up; conflicting policies, incompatible procedures, power disparity, low issue salience, and lack of perceived interdependence may separately and jointly affect collaboration performance. The presence of vertical meta-governance plays a critical role in turning the tide; however, its presence is tied up with other factors such as high issue salience or bottom-up appeal. In addition, the highest level of performance not only depends on vertical meta-governance but also on horizontal meta-governance.

KEYWORDS:

• Interagency collaboration
• coordination
• cooperation
• China
• collaboration performance

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. This information is collected from interviewers with the directors from Liaoning Provincial Audit Office and the Ministry of Environmental Protection.

2. This information is collected from interviews with the section directors from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

3. This information is collected from interviews with the section directors from the Ministry of Environmental Protection.

4. These coordinative actions initiated by the Liaoning Provincial Department of Environmental Protection (LPDEP) are collected from the ‘chronicle of events’ published on the LPDEP’s government webpage (http://www.lnepb.gov.cn). The events associated with the three coordinative actions are recorded by the LPDEP with time orders and causal relations, so we can trace the developmental trajectories of these initiatives.

5. These policy documents are recorded as open government information in government webpages (http://www.lninfo.gov.cn and http://ln-n-tax.gov.cn).

6. This information is obtained from interviewers with the directors from Liaoning Provincial Department of Science and Technology and Liaoning Productivity Promotion Center, and with the window-service personnel at Liaoning Tax Bureau.

7. We know the names of these policy documents from interviews with the officials from the LDST, and after the interviews we consult to the details of these documents from government webpages (http://www.most.gov.cn, http://www.most.gov.cn, http://www.chinatax.gov.cn).

8. This information is obtained from interviews with the directors from Liaoning Tax Bureau.

9. This information is collected from interviews with the general director at Liaoning Provincial Department of Science and Technology.

10. This information is collected from interviews with the planning experts at Transportation Research Center at Dalian Maritime University and with the urban planning officials from Urban Land Use Planning Institute in Liaoning.

11. This information is collected from interviews with the planning experts and engineers at Tsinghua Transportation Research Center.

12. This information is obtained from interviews with the department leaders at the Ministry of Transportation.

13. This information is obtained from interviews with the urban planning officials at Urban Land Use Planning Institute.

14. This information is obtained from interviews with metro operators in Liaoning.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under grant numbers 71774022 and 71403036.

Notes on contributors

Rui Mu

Rui Mu is an associate professor at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Dalian University of Technology, China. She obtained her Msc and PhD degrees at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands. Her research interest lies in inter-organizational relationship and collaborative performance in the public sector. Her recent research focuses on polycentric governance and collaborative decision-making and policy performance in multi-actor settings. She published articles around this areas in the Journal of Transport Geography, Transport Policy; and the Journal of Urban Technology, Sustainability, Energies, and Policy & Society.

Martin de Jong

Martin de Jong is Professor of Dynamics of Inclusive Prosperity at the Erasmus School of Law and the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University Rotterdam. He is also 1000 Talent Program Professor of Public Policy at the School of International Relations and Public Affairs, Fudan University, China, and guest professor at the Faculty of Technology, Policy and Management, Delft University of Technology. He has obtained his master’s degree in public administration from Erasmus University Rotterdam and Leiden University in 1993. He obtained his PhD degree in system engineering and policy analysis from Delft University of Technology in 1999. Since then he has worked or been a visiting scholar (apart from his permanent position at TU-Delft) at University of Amsterdam, George Mason University, Helsinki University of Technology, Harbin Institute of Technology, and Dalian University of Technology. He has specialized in urban and infrastructure development in China, with special strength in transport infrastructures and eco city/low carbon city development.

Joop Koppenjan

Joop Koppenjan is Professor of Public Administration at Erasmus School of Social and Behavioural Sciences, Erasmus University Rotterdam. His fields of interest are: agenda building, decision-making and the policy implementation; democratic governance in policy networks; institutions and institutional design; privatization and public private partnerships; safeguarding public values in public service delivery; project and process management; management of risks and uncertainties; collaborative innovation and learning; and knowledge use and evidence-based policy.