Partnering With Peer-Endorsed Cities: Unpacking the Role of Peer Choices in Interlocal Collaboration

Partner selection is critical for interlocal collaboration. However, governments often face challenges in identifying suitable partners, which can undermine the potential gains of collaboration. While previous studies suggest that conforming to peers can reduce uncertainty in decision-making, its role in partner selection remains underexplored. This study explores the effects of peer conformity on interlocal collaboration. We posit that, in collaborative settings with high uncertainty, local governments tend to align with peer choices in partner selection to mitigate uncertainty, driven by either instrumental or legitimacy motivations. Empirical explorations of 55,278 city dyads in China's nationwide interlocal collaboration for service delivery reform support this argument. Moreover, the peer conformity effect is stronger for city dyads lacking network connections established through leadership position transfers and counterpart-assistance relationships, suggesting that peer conformity is probably based on instrumental considerations, with peer choices serving as information cues and endorsements that help governments make informed collaborative decisions.