What Are the Barriers Hindering Smart Community Governance in China? An Analysis Using the ISM Approach

Smart community governance has encountered significant barriers, hindering the digitalization process inherent to modern communities. Nevertheless, current research lacks a comprehensive analysis of the barriers to smart community governance and their inner relationships, thereby complicating the identification of targeted strategies for improving smart community governance. This study aims to clarify these barriers and their inner relationship, with the objective of proposing strategies to enhance smart community governance. To achieve this, this research initially identified 18 key barriers to smart community governance through a systematic literature review and expert interviews. Subsequently, reliable interconnections between these barriers were established using interpretive structural modeling, leading to the development of a five-layer model of the barriers to smart community governance. Then, valuable improvement strategies have been proposed, grounded in the interrelationships between these barriers. The findings of this study not only contribute to enriching the existing body of knowledge in smart communities but also hold significant practical implications for addressing these barriers to facilitate the governance of smart communities.