The gift of mobility: Transfer networks of local decision‐makers and interlocal collaboration

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AbstractExploring the role of key individuals in institutional collective action (ICA) and interlocal collaboration contributes to understanding the micro‐mechanisms of the policy process. The career mobility of local decision‐makers through transfers among jurisdictions is a common phenomenon. This phenomenon gives rise to transfer networks of local decision‐makers. Despite the prevalence of these transfer networks, they have received relatively little attention in studies on interlocal collaboration. It is unclear how local decision‐makers' transfer networks and different transfer network characteristics affect interlocal collaboration. This article explains the role that transfer networks and transfer network characteristics play in interlocal collaboration by embedding decision‐makers' social networks with transfer networks based on the ICA framework. This study used a dyadic panel dataset of Chinese inter‐provincial watershed environmental collaboration from 2007 to 2019 for empirical research. The results show that existence of transfer networks of local decision‐makers increases the likelihood of interlocal collaboration. The social network ties constructed by decision‐makers in their career paths are responsible for the functioning of transfer networks. The likelihood of interlocal collaboration is higher when transfer networks exhibit successiveness, diagonal promotion characteristics, and collegiality.