Interagency collaboration, broker organization, and bureaucratic responsiveness: how public agencies fix complex citizen requests on digital government platforms?

The widespread adoption of digital platforms has led to a surge in citizen requests. Although inter-agency collaboration is viewed as a crucial mechanism for resolving complex citizen requests, our understanding of its effectiveness remains limited. This study examines how inter-agency collaboration influences bureaucratic responsiveness in resolving complex requests on digital government platforms in China. The findings reveal that inter-agency collaboration significantly reduces resolution rates, a phenomenon known as ‘collaborative failure’. This failure stems from motivational barriers related to responsibility reluctance, risk aversion, and hierarchical sensitivity, wherein broker organizations with higher political authority can mitigate such barriers.