New development: Administrative accountability and early responses during public health crises—lessons from Covid-19 in China

ABSTRACT

The administrative accountability system in China has evolved during public health crises. By holding public officials accountable, the system hopes to improve their performance during emergencies. However, Covid-19 exposed an unexpected effect of the system. Instead of incentivizing public officials to take responsibility, it may have discouraged them from making timely, but potentially risky, decisions. Based on a holistic case analysis of the early response in Wuhan city, the authors demonstrate the lessons learnt and a way to improve the system. The case adds to an increasing academic literature on responsible risk-taking behaviours and decisions under uncertainties, extending the academic discussion by providing the critical contextual information for such behaviours and decisions in China.

IMPACT

Tolerating decision errors under uncertainty can improve early responses to public health emergencies like Covid-19 in China. This article shows that integrating an error-tolerance mechanism in an evolving accountability system can encourage responsible risk-taking by governmental officials. A well-designed error-tolerance mechanism that distinguishes between errors to tolerate and errors to punish can encourage proactive actions and prevent tardiness under threat of an incoming infectious disease. Readers who can benefit from this study include policy-makers and managers in government, especially those who work in infectious disease prevention and response, emergency management, or any other public services in which decisions under uncertainties are common.

KEYWORDS:

• Administrative accountability system
• China
• Covid-19 response
• error-tolerance mechanism
• SARS

Disclosure statement

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