Poster #57 - How performance gaps shape local governments’ policy implementation: Evidence from China's EVMR below provincial level

• In Event: Friday Poster Reception

Abstract

Performance gap, as a key factor in evaluating the success or failure of public organizations within performance management system, affects subsequent performance improvement and managerial decision-making behavior (Meier et al., 2015). Distinguished by different types of aspirations, performance gap can be categorized into historical performance gap and social performance gap (Cyert and March, 1963). Nowadays, divergent evidence has emerged on which type of performance gaps matter, most believe that historical performance gap and social performance gap exert independently effects on organization behavior. However, in practice, public organizations may face historical and social performance gaps simultaneously, introducing uncertainty into their behavior. Thus, we attempt to answer the following questions: (1) How consistent and conflicting dual performance gaps influence local environmental policy implementation? (2) Do organizational resources and superior attention moderate the impact respectively?

We identify four types of performance gap: consistent positive performance gap, consistent negative performance gap, negative historical performance gap and positive social performance gap, and positive historical performance gap and negative performance gap. Drawing on environmental vertical management reform (EVMR) below provincial level in China, we construct a monthly panel dataset of 259 cities from September 2016 to December 2020 and apply a multivariate regression discontinuity design. The results show that after concurrently receiving negative historical and positive social performance gaps, local governments are more likely to attenuate their implementation intensity of EVMR. This impact is more pronounced when organizational resources are lower and superior attention is lower. Conversely, after receiving consistent negative performance gaps, local governments are more likely to enhance their implementation intensity of EVMR. The impact is larger when organizational resources are higher and superior attention is higher. Overall, this study advances a more nuanced understanding of the performance gap effect from the consistent-conflicting perspective.

Author

• Meilin Tang, Sichuan University
  Presenting Author