An Empirical Study on Collaborative Governance Between Local Governments and Universities

This study aims to identify the components of collaborative governance, which have emerged between local governments and universities within the RISE system and to examine the structural relationships among the factors influencing collaborative performance. To achieve this, a survey was conducted among local government and university officials, resulting in a total of 509 valid responses, which were then analyzed using a structural equation model. According to the standardized results of the revised model, both institutional foundation (.307***) and leadership (.506***) exert statistically significant positive effects on the collaborative process, which functions as a mediating factor, whereas initial condition (.157) has only a negligible impact on the collaborative process. With regard to the dependent variable (collaborative performance), institutional foundation (.453***) and leadership (.539***) again show statistically significant positive effects, and collaborative process (.431***) had a significant positive effect. However, initial condition (-.493***) emerges as having a negative impact. In addition, when the collaborating partner is a university, its effect on collaborative performance diminishes (-.079***). Testing the mediating effects of institutional foundation, initial conditions, and leadership on collaborative performance through collaborative process reveals that institutional foundation (.132***) and leadership (.218***) have statistically significant positive indirect effects on collaborative performance via collaborative process. In contrast, initial condition (.068) exerts only a minimal indirect effect. Building on these findings, this study offers policy implications for the enhancement of collaborative governance between local governments and universities.