Abstract: As a novel urban governance mode,cross-departmental collaborative governance has increasingly demonstrated its empowering effect on smart city governance.Based on the cases of 36 smart city governance in China and leveraging the refined Bryson framework alongside qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA),this paper clarifies the operation mechanism and practical approaches for cross-departmental collaborative governance in China's smart cities.The study reveals the following aspects:Such governance is jointly influenced by driving mechanism,operation mechanism and linking mechanism,among which,specifically,the driving mechanism emphasizes the synergistic drive from internal support and external constraint;The operation mechanism manifests itself as “five-dimensional synergy” encompassing environment,action,structure,accountability and exception handling;The linking mechanism stresses the “interactive embedding” of boundary objects,collaborative groups and practical experience.Furthermore,adopting the Technology-Organization-Environment (TOE) framework for a configurational analysis of cross-departmental collaborative governance in smart cities,the study identifies two dominant modes of practical approaches:the mode of “technology + organization” and the mode of “organization + environment”.Consequently,to enhance the effectiveness of cross-departmental collaborative governance in China's smart cities,a more systematic and holistic approach is needed,focusing on optimizing technological governance systems,strengthening organizational mobilization capabilities,and refining external resource environment.

Key words: smart city governance, cross-departmental collaboration, TOE theory, operation mechanism, practical approaches