When Network Meets Bureaucracy: Direct and Indirect Effects of Mandates on Crisis Response Collaboration

ABSTRACT Mandated networks, as a distinct form of collaborative governance, have received increasing scholarly attention in recent years. Yet their effectiveness remains debated, and the mechanisms through which mandates shape interorganizational collaboration in crisis response are not well understood. Drawing on institutional and network perspectives, this article examines the direct and indirect effects of mandates on collaborative tie formation during crises. Using social network analysis of collaborative ties among 424 organizations—including members of 62 legally mandated safety and disaster committees—during the 2015 epidemic in South Korea, the study shows that both direct bureaucratic and network‐mediated mechanisms shaped these ties, with indirect effects predominating. It reveals how relational dynamics at the dyadic and group levels mediated collaborative ties, accounting for sequential and feedback effects between levels and comparing these effects in mandated versus voluntary ties. The findings highlight mandated networks' potential as institutional arrangements for preserving governance stability under turbulent conditions.