As Weiss (1987) argued, some personal experiences or professional values are conducive to collaboration. To capture this concept, the following indicators are considered: How do city mayors perceive the expansive role of city governments and do they focus on internal productivity improvement? Also included is past occupational backgrounds before being elected city mayor (e.g., were they former government officials, businesspersons, farmers/ agricultural workers, self-employed?). People of some occupational types with certain management attitudes and backgrounds, by the very nature of work, are more likely to collaborate than others (Jones, Hesterly, and Borgatti 1997). Past studies show the impact of personal characteristics on the willingness to collaborate (e.g., Goldman and Kahnweiler 2000; Linden 2002). For example, Goldman and Kahnweiler (2000) showed specifically that the executives who experienced successful collaborations in the past had the greater tendency to have positive attitudes toward collaboration. In a similar vein, Wolf (2006) and Abrahamson and Fombrun (1992, 1994) found that collaborative networks are more easily formed by business leaders or people of similar business backgrounds.