Participatory governance and local government responsiveness: evidence from participation in politics on television in China

ABSTRACT

Based on the data of cities in China from 2005 to 2015, this paper examines the impact of the sandwiching approach involving the media governance model on government responsiveness with a quasi-natural experiment of participation in politics on television (PPTV). The study found that PPTV can help strengthen government responsiveness. After a series of robustness tests, the conclusion is still valid. The heterogeneity analysis shows that PPTV can effectively enhance government responsiveness in technology, social security, and employment sectors. Furthermore, government responsiveness is more effectively enhanced by adopting PPTV in form of annual live broadcast activities with public rating and cooperation with print media. This policy has a stronger role in enhancing government responsiveness in cities with high levels of economic development and high government competition. Considering officials characters, the longer the tenure of the mayor and the secretary of the municipal party committee, the stronger the government responsiveness.

KEYWORDS:

• Participation in politics on television
• government responsiveness
• public participation
• sandwiching approach involving media governance model
• local governance

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed here.

Additional information

Funding

The work reported here was funded by the Science Foundation, [Ref. 72173136], and the Fundamental Research Funds for Central Universities, Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, [Ref. 2722020JCT007].

Notes on contributors

Yukun Wang

Yukun Wang is a Ph.D. candidate in the School of Finance at Renmin University of China. Her research broadly focuses on local government responsiveness, tax enforcement and government target setting.

Yu Qi

Yu Qi is an associate professor in the School of Public Finance and Taxation at Zhongnan University of Economics and Law. His research focuses on public finance, budgeting, and environmental economics.

Gao Chen

Gao Chen is an associate professor in the School of Public Finance and Taxation at Zhongnan University of Economics and Law. His research focuses on local public finance policy as well as regional economic health, performance, and development.