Toward a leading-agency coordinated collaboration model? lessons learned from interagency collaboration in Chinese environmental protection

ABSTRACT In this study, we are interested primarily in how a structural factor – social capital – relates to Chinese national government agencies’ partner selection in environmental protection. Our study finds that their partner selection is associated positively with activity closure and popularity closure while being negatively influenced by cyclicity closure. Moreover, their partner selection is characterized predominantly by a leading-agency coordinated collaboration model, which favors the engagement of a shared third agency and emphasizes the similarity of interests. This study expands the theoretical connotations of social capital and provides new insights into the mechanisms underlying actors’ partner selection in interagency collaboration.