Cross‐Jurisdictional Collaboration, Social–Ecological Fit, and Water Quality Improvement: Evidence from the Yellow River Basin

ABSTRACT The inherent contradiction between the spatial diffusion of water pollution and administratively‐demarcated jurisdictions necessitates transboundary collaboration. A consensus has been reached that effective collaboration crucially depends on the delicate alignment of institutional arrangements with underlying social and ecological interdependencies, a concept referred to as “social–ecological fit (SEF)”. However, less is known about whether and how SEF could help collaborating local policy actors effectively solve their own water problems. Taking the Yellow River Basin of China as a case study, an auto‐logistic actor attribute model was developed to empirically examine the statistical correlations between social–ecological fit and water quality outcomes among prefecture‐level cities. Results reveal substantial heterogeneity in the effects of social network structures and SEF on water quality outcomes. Social activity is positively correlated with improvements in prefectural water quality, while social contagion and network transitivity are negatively associated with such improvement. In terms of SEF, collaborative management within the same sub–watershed improves the water quality of engaged jurisdictions, whereas collaborative management of two or more ecologically interconnected sub–watersheds shows no significant relationship with local water quality. These findings suggest that the effectiveness of collaborative governance depends on the specific forms of collaboration and SEF involved, rather than collaboration per se. This study contributes to the SEF literature by providing empirical evidence that different social and social–ecological configurations relate to governance outcomes and helps inform institutional design for collaborative responses to cross‐jurisdictional watershed governance challenges characterized by complexity and interdependency.