●SYSPOSIUM：GovernmentalBehaviorandAccountability

Introduction:Agency and Reactivity in Governmental Behavior

Qianyou Zhang

Accountability，Transparency and the Responsibility Dilemma of Contemporary Government

Qianyou Zhang

AbstractThe public interest is the responsibility of modern government， and an accountability system is part of that obligation.In the first half of the 20thcentury， some countries established a questions-based accountability system; the government had to publicly justify its actions. Recently，the questions-based system has been replaced by accountability based on sanctions that has made government more transparent. Yet， irresponsible governmental actions still happen. In some cases， the sanctions-based system has triggered blame-avoidance behaviors. This comparison of questions-based accountability and sanctions-based accountability urges us to rethink the value of trust and to help the government to take its responsibilities with the trust of the public．

KeyWordsGovernmental Responsibilty; Accountability; Transparency; Trust

How Does Accountability Pressure Affect Precise Accountability？An Empirical Analysis of Eco-environmental Accountability Cases from 2015 to 2021

Zhijun Gu & Yan Zeng

AbstractPrecise accountability is important for improving the supervision system of the Party and the state. In-depth discussion of achieving precise accountability is significant and valuable for the promotion of the high-quality development of accountability work. In this paper， 269 cases of ecological and environmental accountability from 2015 to 2021 were selected as research samples.The effects of political， legal， social， and professional accountability pressures on precise accountability were tested using a fixed effect model. The research finds that the precision of the accountability work in China is quite different and has great space for improvement. Among them， leadership instructions in political accountability pressure and public demand in social accountability pressure have a significant positive influence on accountability precision; the promotion of accountability and inspection accountability in political accountability pressure have a significant negative impact on the accountability precision; legal accountability pressure and professional accountability pressure have no significant impact on the accountability precision. These research results are an empirical test of the precision of accountability work. They help explain the mechanism of accountability pressure on precision accountability， thereby enriching the theoretical understanding of accountability research and providing evidence for policy suggestions about the implementation of precision accountability work．

KeyWordsPrecise Accountability; Accountability Pressure; Eco-environmental Accountability; Accountability Assessment; Effect of Accountability

Balance Rewards and Punishments: The Choice Logic of Grass-roots Departments Policy Implementation in Multi-task Situations

Kechang Wu & Yujin Tang

AbstractPolicy deformation is a common choice for grass-roots departments under multi-task situations. Under the objective assessment system of hierarchical restraint， the top-down incentive and accountability mechanisms constrain the policy implementation behavior of grass-roots departments. Starting from the two dimensions of incentive strength and accountability intensity， this research divides the policies implemented by grass-roots departments into four types: low-performance and low-risk， high-performance and low-risk， low-performance and high-risk， high-performance and high-risk， and correspondingly concludes four alternative implementation strategies: symbolic， administrative， campaign， and political. Then， based on this framework， the paper analyzes the behavioral process of D subdistrict in multi-task Situations. The case analysis finds that， faced with multiple policy tasks， grass-roots departments balance the differences in “incentive-accountability” among different policies by considering the incentive strength and accountability intensity of a single policy. They then follow the logic of “seeking to maximize rewards while accepting acceptable punishments” to choose appropriate strategies to implement the different policies. This paper expands the analysis perspective of policy implementation strategy choices of grassroots departments. It not only reveals the operating characteristics and influence mechanisms of the incentive and accountability mechanisms of the target assessment system， but also analyzes the preferences of grassroots departments for different policies and the internal logic of implementation strategy selection. The research results suggest that， to adjust and control the flexible implementation of policies in grass-roots departments， it is necessary to balance the relationship between the incentive strength and accountability intensity of a single policy and to strike a balance between the degree of “incentive-accountability” among different policies. It is also necessary to improve the assessment model process and results， and reform the digital assessment technology at the text level．

KeyWordsMulti-task; Objective Assessment System; Incentive Strength; Accountability Intensity; Policy Deformation

●ARTICLES

The Research Program of Public Value(s): Approach，Method，and Application

Zhenming Chen & Jingrong Wei

AbstractAs a new approach or paradigm of public governance， the study of public value(s) is in the ascendant. This paper examines the “research program” of public value(s)， commenting on its research approaches and research methods. The research on public value(s) highlights two ways of creating public value and standardizing public values. Public value(s) focuses on the research tradition of standardization， but it lacks sufficient empirical research and hypothesis testing. This paper takes the rural residential land institution as an example to propose a research agenda on the application of public value(s) in the analysis of institutional operation. We must fully understand the significance and function of the public value(s) research approach， attach great importance to public value(s) research methods， especially the application of empirical research method， test and develop the theory of public value(s)， and promote the growth of public value(s) knowledge．

KeyWordsPublic Value(s); Research Program; Research Approach; Institutional Operation

Activation of Autonomy of Street-Level Bureaucracies and Their Driving Mechanism: The Case of Conflict over Maintenance Funds in T Community

Chunsheng Li & Zhiming Han

AbstractThe autonomy of street-level bureaucracies is a critical yet long neglected topic in the literature. Based on a case study of T community， this article explains the transition of the T neighborhood committee from a bystander to a dominating force in the resolution of maintenance fund conflicts . The results indicate the process of activating the autonomy of street-level bureaucracies and their driving mechanisms. Our study finds that the intervention from T neighborhood committee into maintenance fund conflicts underwent four stages: neutral， intervention， participation， and take over. This demonstrates the process of the T neighborhood committee from passive response to active resolution of the maintenance fund conflicts， implying the transformation of the T neighborhood committee’s autonomy from passive activation to active activation. The activation of autonomy in street-level bureaucracies involves complex driving mechanisms， including the transformation of the nature of the problem， the promotion of the superior authority， the control of key information， the reconfiguration of the action interface， and the expanded reproduction of the performance. Our study opens the ‘black box’ of autonomy in street-level bureaucracy research by initially revealing the driving mechanisms of activating its autonomy and contributing to the localized construction of street-level bureaucrat theory. In the future practice of grassroots governance， more attention should be paid to bringing into play the subjective and active role of street-level bureaucrats， providing sufficient institutional space and performance incentives for the initiative of street-level bureaucrats， and fully stimulating the vitality of street-level bureaucrats grassroots governance．

KeyWordsStreet-Level Bureaucracies; Autonomy; Grassroots Governance; Community Residential Special Maintenance Funds; Driving Mechanism

How Does a Clean and Righteous Organizational Environment Improve a Civil Servant’s Job Performance？An Analysis of Psychological Mechanism Based on Organizational Justice，Psychological Capital， and Workplace Spirituality

Jianglin Ke，Qi Liu & Chen Chen

AbstractCreating a clean and righteous organizational environment is important to the modernization of China’s governance system and its capacity for governance. To some degree， organizational justice consisting of distributive justice， procedural justice， and interactive justice reflects the clean and righteous level of an organization’s environment. Previous studies on the effect of organizational justice mainly focus on enterprises， and most of the mediating mechanisms are built on the theory of social exchange， which ignores the psychological process from the perspective of positive psychology. This study employs psychological capital (primary psychological resources) and workplace spirituality (advanced psychological resources) as parallel mediators and constructs a model to examine the impact of organizational justice on civil servants’ job performance based on conservation of resource theory and the job demands-resources model. A time-lagged three-wave survey was conducted. The empirical results of 334 street-level civil servants show that organizational justice has a significantly positive effect on job performance. Moreover， workplace spirituality and psychological capital play parallel mediating roles on these relationships. Task uncertainty moderates the direct effects of organizational justice and workplace spirituality on job performance， and the mediating role of workplace spirituality. This study unpacks the psychological mechanism of how a clean and righteous organizational environment improves civil servant’s job performance. It also suggests that government should take multiple measures to create a justice climate for civil servants in the new era to enhance their positive psychological resources and achieve satisfying job performance．

KeyWordsOrganizational Justice; Psychological Capital; Workplace Spirituality; Job Performance; Task Uncertainty

Research on the Effect of Local Government Image on Public Satisfaction: Evidence from Government Competence and Willingness

Xuede Gao & Lulu Feng

AbstractRevealing the formation of public satisfaction from the government perspective is the mainstream in the current academic circles， but it pays more attention to the competence of government and ignores the willingness of the government in implementing its public service function. Using the experimental method， this paper discusses the differential impact effect of local government image based on competence and willingness on public satisfaction and verifies the stability of the willingness priority effect based on the moderating effect of performance nature. We found: (1) Government willingness can cause higher public satisfaction than government competence; (2) The impact of local government image on public satisfaction under different levels of government willingness is less affected by the nature of performance information， while local government image under different levels of government competence is more susceptible to the nature of performance information. The results provide a new typological dimension for the study of local government image and expand the interpretative scope of the willingness priority effect from the interpersonal and intergroup levels to the public sector field. The results also provide a new idea for improving public satisfaction．

KeyWordsLocal Government Image; Public Satisfaction; Government Competence; Government Willingness

Governance Cycle and Policy Implementation Fluctuations: Based on the Dynamic Experience Observation of Urban Management Law Enforcement

Dewen Lyu

AbstractFluctuating policy enforcement is a common administrative phenomenon. This article starts with the phenomenon of fluctuations in urban management law enforcement and reveals the characteristics of fluctuations in policy implementation. Policy implementation fluctuations are dynamically balanced in the dimension of implementation intensity; in time series， they are cyclical. The fluctuation of policy implementation is the result of the combined effect of the fuzzy governance mechanism and the attention distribution mechanism. The executive’s choice of different governance models and the degree of focus on specific issues have shaped different execution strengths and durations. A correct understanding of the fluctuations in policy implementation is conducive to achieving a balance of policy uniformity and difference， stability and adaptability， continuity and flexibility in policy practice. In policy practice， it is necessary to avoid an abnormal understanding of policy implementation fluctuations and abandoning various effective governance models under the guidance of regularization and regulation．

KeyWordsPolicy Implementation Fluctuation; Policy Cycle; Ambiguity Governance; Attention Distribution; Urban Management Law Enforcement

Exploring the Mechanism of Health Inequality under Medical Reform and the Governance Approach: From a Perspective on Health Consumption Stratification

Niu Ju & Yucheng Liang

AbstractChina’s new medical health system reform aimed to promote equity in medical care. Health inequality is still rising， however. Since previous related studies focused on the impact of medical policy， the mechanisms that allow different health economic behaviors to increase health inequality have not been systemically discussed. Based on empirical data from the survey of residents’ living conditions in megacities， this study analyzed the actual effect of the medical reform policy. It found that personal health status was determined by both medical expenditures and health leisure consumption. While the policies of health reform have promoted the utilization of medical resources followed with increasing medical expenditure， the social effects on health were characterized by social class due to different health economic behaviors. People in lower class surroundings were more likely to be involved in the solidification mechanism of bad health， indicating that the increase of medical expenditures would solidify their health disadvantages. People in higher class surroundings were more likely to follow the reproduction mechanism of well-being， indicating that health leisure consumption enhanced their health advantages. This suggests governance approaches supply health and leisure behavior resources especially for people in lower class surroundings.

KeyWordsMedical Policy; Medical Expenditure; Health Leisure Consumption; Middle Class; Health Inequality

●THEORETICALREVIEWS

Video Research Methods: A New Approach in Public Administration Studies

Xiaoli Lyu， Xian Zhu， Shuaize Fu & Hao Xu

AbstractThis paper reviews previous research using video methods in such fields as organization studies and sociology. We identify five major approaches of video methods，including Video Data Analysis(VDA)in micro-sociology， Interaction Process Analysis(IPA)focusing on small group decision-making， multimodal discourse analysis， ethnomethodology’s derivatives including conversation analysis and workplace studies， and video ethnography．We then summarize analytic dimensions that video methods are more advanced at，including situational factors， emotion，embodiment， sociomateriality， and process dynamics. The paper also discusses key operational procedures of video methods， such as data sources， video camera focus， unit of analysis， and analytic techniques. We conclude by highlighting future research opportunities for public administration studies， including public service delivery and regulation， decision making and coordination， and multimodal communication．

KeyWordsVideo; Multimodal; Interaction; Video Ethnography; Conversation Analysis