Collaborative leadership and financial sustainability in local government

This research examines whether collaborative leadership significantly influences the financial sustainability of local government. Unlike other studies on financial sustainability, ours examined collaborative leadership’s effect on both subjective and objective financial sustainability by controlling for socio-demographic and economic factors (i.e., population size, population density, population aged over 65 years, unemployment rate, and gross domestic regional product) that influence the financial sustainability of local government. Ordinary least squares (OLS) regression analysis of data collected from local revenue officers as well as secondary data from local governments in South Korea revealed that collaborative leadership has a positive effect on the subjective perception of financial sustainability and a negative effect on the objective financial sustainability (net debt) of local government. These findings underscore the necessity of collaborative leadership for financial sustainability as well as the strategies needed for its development in local government.