{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,18]],"date-time":"2026-01-18T19:06:21Z","timestamp":1768763181903,"version":"3.49.0"},"reference-count":40,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,16]],"date-time":"2026-01-16T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1768521600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100002338","name":"the Ministry of Education of the People\u2019s Republic of China","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","award":["23YJA810003"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["23YJA810003"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100002338","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"crossref"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Systems"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Leadership lies at the core of public administration, yet research on boundary-spanning leadership has paid limited attention to the micro-level behaviors through which regional collaboration is enacted. Drawing on empirical evidence from China and a mixed-methods research design, this study examines relational leadership behaviors (RLBs) in regional collaborative governance (RCG). It identifies three types of collaborative leaders\u2014leaders embedded in network administrative organizations, leaders within specialized collaborative departments, and leaders exchanged between regions\u2014and four core RLBs: relational initiative, reconciliation, catalysis, and linkage. These behaviors enhance the perceived effectiveness of RCG by fostering trust, managing conflicts, and integrating diverse interests. The findings further show that RLBs are shaped by the collaborative context, including institutional arrangements, leader roles, task complexity, and the temporal dynamics of collaboration. By incorporating relational leadership into a process-oriented perspective, this study extends RCG theory and offers practical insights for improving governance effectiveness in RCG.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/systems14010095","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,16]],"date-time":"2026-01-16T08:08:21Z","timestamp":1768550901000},"page":"95","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Lead by Relationship: The Behaviors of Relational Leadership in Regional Collaborative Governance"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"14","author":[{"given":"Hua","family":"Xing","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Government, Central University of Finance and Economics, Beijing 102206, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Lin","family":"Luo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Government, Central University of Finance and Economics, Beijing 102206, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Bo","family":"Feng","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Government, Central University of Finance and Economics, Beijing 102206, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,16]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1159","DOI":"10.2307\/1556343","article-title":"Leadership in the Shaping And Implementation Of Collaboration Agendas: How Things Happen in a (Not Quite) Joined-Up World","volume":"43","author":"Huxham","year":"2000","journal-title":"Acad. 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