Citizens’ motivations to coproduce: a Q methodological study on the City Governance Committee in Nanjing, China

ABSTRACT

This article applies Q methodology to examine citizens’ motivations to engage in Chinese city governance, more specifically to participate in the City Governance Committee in Nanjing. We identify three orientations underlying citizens’ motivations to engage in coproduction: the optimistic believer, the active expresser, and the commissioned influencer. Our data show that expressive values, self-efficacy, and normative values are important reasons underlying Chinese citizens’ engagement in coproduction. The orientations that we have found clearly differ from motivations that are reported in research conducted in a Western context. Our analysis suggests that governors should improve citizens’ self-efficacy for coproduction.

KEYWORDS:

• Coproduction
• motivations
• Chinese city governance
• Q methodology

Acknowledgement

We want to express our appreciation to two anonymous reviewers for their constructive and inspiring comments. Professor Stephen Osborne, the editor of Public Managment Review, also gave us lots of support and help.

Disclosure statement

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

Notes

1. The term ‘social organization’ means more or less the same as non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-profit organization (NPO) in Western democracies. It refers primarily to three different types of organizations, namely, social associations (Shehui Tuanti), charity foundations, and social service organizations.

2. http://jsnews2.jschina.com.cn/system/2013/04/25/017024415.shtml

3. http://www.nanjing.gov.cn/xxgk/bm/cgj/201601/t20160111_3740132.html

4. http://www.njdaily.cn/2016/1014/1502094.shtml

5. http://manchesterparentcarerforum.org.uk/co-production-in-manchester/

6. KenQ is software specifically used to conduct Q sort analysis.

7. Centriod factor analysis extracts the largest number of absolute loadings for each factor.

8. Varimax rotation adjusts the coordinates of data resulting from factor analysis with the aim of maximizing the sum of the variances of the squared loadings.

9. The numbers between brackets refer to the statement and the factor score of the statement ranging from −4 to +4.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Planning Office of Philosophy and Social Science [20BZZ036].

Notes on contributors

Yanwei Li

Yanwei Li is associate professor at Nanjing Normal University. His interests of research include: governance network, environmental conflict resolution, the governance of sharing economy, risk governance, public service provision and coproduction. His studies have been widely published in international journals, such as Public Management Review, Public Administration, Policy Sciences, Risk Analysis, Journal of Public Policy, and Journal of Social Policy.

Yana Lu

Yana Lu is professor at Nanjing Normal University. Her interests of research include: social governance and crisis management. Her studies have been published in journals, such as Public Management Review, and Local Government Studies.

Astrid Molenveld

Astrid Molenveld is assistant professor at Erasmus University Rotterdam, the Netherlands, and she has published articles in journals, such as Policy Sciences, Public Administration Review, and Public Administration.

Joop Koppenjan

Joop Koppenjan is professor at Erasmus University Rotterdam, the Netherlands, and his research has been widely published in journals, such as Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, Public Administration Review, Public Administration, Public Management Review, Policy Studies Journal, and Policy Sciences.