Who Is Accountable? How Citizens Attribute Success and Failure in Cross‐Sector Collaborations
通过一项1515人的实验，研究信息线索（主导部门与绩效结果）如何影响公民对跨部门合作中成功与失败的问责归因，发现公民主要归责于主导部门，而非对公共部门有偏见。
ABSTRACT Cross‐sector collaborations bring together organizations with different values, missions, and goals to achieve shared outcomes. However, how accountability is attributed across sectors remains unclear, particularly given the potential influence of sector bias on citizen perceptions. Recent research suggests that clear information can mitigate such bias. Using a pre‐registered 3 × 2 between‐subjects experiment ( N = 1515), we examine whether information cues about sector contributions (leading vs. non‐leading sector) and performance outcome (success vs. failure) shape perceptions of accountability. Additionally, we assess whether the public sector is held more accountable for failures when leading the collaboration, compared to the private or nonprofit sectors. Consistent with blame attribution theory, citizens attribute accountability for both success and failure primarily to the leading sector. We find no evidence that the public sector is disproportionately blamed. These findings suggest that information on sector contribution, rather than inherent sector bias, plays a crucial role in shaping accountability perceptions.