Can Cross‐Sector Collaboration Contribute to Boundaries Reshaping of Digital Government Platforms? Empirical Evidence Based on Machine Learning and Text Analysis

ABSTRACT Cross‐sector collaboration is regarded as an effective institution for the fragmentation of government organizations, but it is still unknown which organizational form can effectively promote the holistic governance of digital government platforms. We construct an attention‐based behavioral model according to behavior theory and then explore the impact and mechanism of cross‐sector collaboration on the holistic governance of digital government platforms. We show that cross‐sector collaboration has a negative effect on digital government platform governance. Mechanism analysis results show that cross‐sector collaboration based on the lead task system can enhance digital government platform governance through two pathways: the performance‐driven path of cross‐sector collaboration and the vertical intervention path steered by the leader's attention allocation. This study contributes both theoretical and empirical evidence to enhance the understanding of the micro‐operational mechanisms of cross‐sector collaboration based on the lead task system in digital government platforms.