Chinese Public Administration Review

With China’s development plan of “digital—intelligent transformation,” the Smart City Pilot Policy (SCPP) initiative has played a unique role in disaster management since 2012. Based on three batches of China’s smart pilot cities, this research harnesses the multi-period difference-in-differences method to empirically examine the SCPP impact on urban disaster resilience by adopting panel data from 102 sample cities between 2013 and 2023. The findings reveal the following aspects. (1) the SCPP significantly enhances the level of Urban Disaster Resilience (UDR) as defined, albeit with a time lag. (2) the SCPP primarily improves UDR by promoting technological empowerment and innovation driver. (3) Heterogeneity analysis demonstrates that SCPP’s impact varies by city scale and administrative level, and the positive effect is more pronounced for peripheral cities. This primary finding remains reliable after a series of robustness checks. This study provides insights for developing countries similar to China for promoting smart city construction and strengthening the capacity to lift urban disaster resilience.

The implementation of environmental policies is crucial for improving environmental quality and bolstering governmental legitimacy. It serves as a key indicator of the environmental performance of local governments. However, significant regional disparities exist in the outcomes of policy implementation, influenced by a variety of factors, including material resources and social contexts. This study investigates the relationship between policy implementation and environmental performance by conducting an empirical analysis using panel data regression models, covering 30 provincial units in mainland China from 2008 to 2023. The findings reveal that the effectiveness of policy implementation varies across different types of pollutants. Specifically, policy content factors—such as the delegation of authority and policy revision frequency—play a substantial role in air pollution control, while the role of implementation agencies and the availability of resources are critical in water pollution management. In contrast, flexible policy measures are most effective in solid waste governance. Additionally, regional governments exhibit varying capacities in addressing air, water, and solid waste pollution. The study concludes that there is a pressing need for the establishment of an integrated, cross-regional environmental management framework to ensure a more equitable and effective approach to mitigating environmental pollution.

While interpersonal stressors are prevalent in public organizations, the underlying mechanisms of how they affect civil servants’ behaviors remain limited. Drawing on the conservation of resources theory, this study develops and tests a moderated mediation model to unpack the draining effect of interpersonal stressors on the work withdrawal behavior of township civil servants via the mediating role of deep acting. Political skill is further identified as a critical moderator in the proposed model. Using three-wave data from Chinese township civil servants, this study finds that township civil servants experiencing interpersonal stressors are more likely to exhibit work withdrawal behavior. Furthermore, deep acting partially mediates the relationship between interpersonal stressors and work withdrawal behavior of township civil servants. Additionally, political skill moderates the relationship between deep acting and work withdrawal behavior, such that this negative relationship is weaker at higher levels of political skill. Theoretical and practical implications are also discussed.

Procedural fairness has long been recognized as critical to citizen acceptance of urban renewal initiatives. However, research examining the underlying mechanisms of this relationship remains limited, hindering effective policy implementation. This study addresses this gap by investigating how relationship quality dimensions—specifically citizen satisfaction, citizen recognition, and citizen trust—mediate the link between procedural fairness and citizen acceptance. Drawing on survey data from 409 respondents across three communities in China that experienced urban renewal projects and employing structural equation modeling (SEM) and artificial neural network (ANN) analysis, our findings demonstrate that procedural fairness positively influences citizen acceptance, with citizen satisfaction and citizen recognition serving as partial mediators in this relationship, while citizen trust shows no significant mediating effect. These findings advance the literature by elucidating the distinct procedural fairness pathways through which citizens develop acceptance toward urban renewal policies, while also revealing the nuanced roles that different relational dimensions play in this process.

Current scholarship lacks an integrated analysis of multi-level governance in stigma management within the public sector, notably in law enforcement. Using China’s chengguan as a case study, this research develops a framework integrating individual, managerial, and organizational levels, with particular attention to strategic convergence and divergence. Grounded in the conventional categories of disengagement (e.g. avoidance) and engagement (e.g. confrontation) approaches, semi-structured interviews reveal that disengagement strategies dominate at the individual level. Engagement strategies, particularly reframing, boundary management, and emotion regulation, are applied across multiple levels, with distinct adaptations aligned to each level’s specific roles. Key divergences emerge in information management, whereas refocusing and cooptation remain confined to the managerial and organizational levels, respectively. More significantly, the study identifies previously unexplored adjustment approaches (e.g. behavioral adjustments) to address stigma at its source. The study contributes a multi-level perspective to stigma management theory and offers practical implications for law enforcement agencies globally.

This study examines how person–job fit influences the formation of public service motivation (PSM) among newly recruited civil servants under involuntary placement systems. Based on organizational socialization theory and the Ability–Motivation–Opportunity (AMO) framework, we propose a sequential mediation model linking person–job fit, self-efficacy, training evaluation, and public service motivation (PSM). Using survey data from 746 new civil servants in G Province, China (2020–2022), structural equation modeling and moderated mediation analyses were conducted. Results show that person–job fit significantly enhances PSM; self-efficacy and training evaluation jointly mediate this relationship, forming a sequential mechanism; and work environment and career development moderate the effect of job fit on self-efficacy, though not its direct effect on PSM. Findings highlight the importance of perceived fit and socialization context in fostering PSM in public sector entrants.

The use of e-government has transformed public service delivery, however, the impact of this digital shift on citizens’ trust in government remains unclear. For this purpose, a systematic review of 49 peer-reviewed studies on the relationship between e-government use and citizens’ trust in government, published between 2004 and 2024, was conducted. This review traces the evolution of research focus, theoretical frameworks, and empirical findings in this field. Findings demonstrate a steady growth of interest, particularly in countries with advanced digital infrastructure. Most studies focus on service quality, transparency, data security, and user satisfaction as primary drivers of trust. Methodologically, quantitative, cross-sectional survey designs dominate the field, with limited use of qualitative and mixed-method approaches. Theoretically, many studies rely on technology adoption models and traditional trust frameworks, with limited attention to emerging technology features such as explainability or algorithmic transparency. This review contributes to the literature by mapping these theoretical and methodological patterns, identifying key gaps, and proposing a research agenda centered on actual use and emerging AI-based government services. It provides valuable insights for both scholars and policymakers seeking to understand and strengthen public trust in an increasingly digital public sector.

Although government digital transformation has become a central strategy for improving public service delivery, less is known about whether its benefits are distributed evenly across places with different digital conditions. Using China’s “Internet + Government Services” national pilot policy as a quasi-natural experiment and a panel of 285 prefecture-level cities from 2010 to 2022, this paper examines both the average and distributive effects of digital government on public service provision. The results show that government digital transformation significantly improves public service provision efficiency on average, but these gains are highly uneven across cities. The effect is significantly stronger in cities with better pre-existing digital foundations and markedly weaker in cities facing more severe digital constraints. Further quantile-based evidence indicates a clear Matthew effect: digitally leading cities gain the most, whereas digitally lagging cities benefit far less. Mechanism analysis shows that digital transformation improves public service provision through stronger interdepartmental coordination, lower service provision costs, and information exchange between government and citizens. These findings suggest that digital government can enhance public service provision while also reinforcing disparities in public service gains under unequal initial conditions.

Maintaining policy legitimacy has become increasingly complex amid shifting historical contexts and evolving public perceptions. Drawing on a longitudinal analysis of China’s demolition policy (1991–2021), this study traces its legitimacy trajectory—from limited legitimacy to legitimacy breakdown and, ultimately, to regained legitimacy. Adopting the theoretical framework of institutional work, the study examines how governments engage in maintenance work in response to public feedback to continuously construct policy legitimacy. This study makes three theoretical contributions. First, it identifies the evolutionary mechanisms of policy legitimation through cognitive reconstruction and value co-creation, which reestablish institutionalized negotiation between the state and society. Second, it highlights the role of symbolic strategies in policy re-legitimation, demonstrating how meaning-making processes dynamically align policy objectives with public acceptance. Third, it reveals the strategic reflexivity of institutional work, illustrating the adaptive and agentic capacities of governments in the ongoing reconstruction of legitimacy.