Why ‘Connected but Immobile’: The Generative Mechanism of Multi-stakeholder Interaction Dilemmas in Grassroots Community Governance—A Qualitative Study Based on Grounded Theory

Abstract

Within the policy framework of the ‘co-construction, co-governance, and shared benefits’ social governance landscape, this study focuses on the core issue of multi-stakeholder collaborative governance in grassroots communities. Employing grounded theory and based on in-depth interviews with relevant personnel—including staff from four community sub-district offices, community Party organisations, property management enterprises, and residents in City X—as well as a systematic analysis of relevant policy documents, this research constructs a model of the influencing factors and mechanisms of the ‘connected but immobile’ dilemma through three-level coding. The findings reveal that the ‘connected but immobile’ dilemma arises from the coupling effect of four core categories of factors: ‘subject deficiency’, ‘psychological bias’, ‘communication barriers’, and ‘inadequate safeguards’, forming a self-reinforcing closed-loop logic. From the perspective of collective action and social capital theory, this study dissects the generative mechanism of multi-stakeholder interaction dilemmas in grassroots community governance, deepening the understanding of the internal logic of collaborative failure. Accordingly, it proposes optimisation pathways from four dimensions—enhancing communication effectiveness, improving institutional safeguards, cultivating qualified subjects, and guiding positive psychology—thereby offering practical references for advancing the modernisation of the grassroots governance system and governance capacity.