Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-tn8tq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-13T12:19:53.609Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Government profiles as perceived by governments’ NPO partners in Chinese social service delivery

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 November 2021

YANWEI LI Open the ORCID record for YANWEI LI [Opens in a new window] ,
XIANLIN NI  and
HAN WEI
YANWEI LI
Affiliation:
Department of Public Administration, School of Public Management, Nanjing Normal University, China, 210023 Email: 14203@njnu.edu.cn
XIANLIN NI
Affiliation:
Department of Public Administration, School of Public Management, Nanjing Normal University, China, 210023 Email: xianlinni@163.com
HAN WEI
Affiliation:
Department of Public Administration, School of Public Management, Nanjing Normal University, China, 210023 Email: ujsnnuweihan@163.com
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Social services in China nowadays are increasingly coproduced by both government and non-profit organizations (NPOs). However, we still know little about how NPOs perceive their government partners in social service delivery. Using a Q methodology, this study remedies this gap and identifies three profiles – namely, government as a distant facilitator, government as a hands-off collaborator, and government as a prudent principal. Also, it has been found that two conditions – namely, NPOs’ development stage and funding resources – influence their perceptions on government in social service delivery. These three profiles provide new insights into NPOs’ perceptions of their government partners in social service delivery, and they add new building blocks to existing literature, specifically on the government–NPO relationship in China.

Keywords

government profilenon-profit organizations (NPOs)Q methodologysocial service deliveryChina
Type
Article
Information
Journal of Social Policy , Volume 52 , Issue 2 , April 2023 , pp. 316 - 338
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Anheier, H. K. and Salamon, L. M. (2006), The nonprofit sector in comparative perspective. In Powell, W. W. (ed.), The nonprofit sector: A research handbook, second edition (pp. 89–116), New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Dryzek, J. S. and Berejikian, J. (1993), Reconstructive democratic theory. The American Political Science Review, 87 (1), pp. 48–60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ho, P. (2007), Embedded activism and political change in a semiauthoritarian context. China Information, 21(2), pp. 187–209.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hsu, C. (2010), Beyond civil society: An organizational perspective on state-NGO relations in the People's Republic of China. Journal of Civil Society, 6 (3), pp. 259–277.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hsu, C.L. and Jiang, Y.Z. (2015), An institutional approach to Chinese NGOs: State alliance versus state avoidance resource strategies. The China Quarterly, 221, pp. 100–122.10.1017/S0305741014001568CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hsu, J. Y., Hsu, C. L. and Hasmath, R. (2017), NGO strategies in an authoritarian context, and their implications for citizenship: the case of the People’s Republic of China. Voluntas, 28 (3), pp. 1157–1179.10.1007/s11266-016-9806-0CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jeffares, S. and Skelcher, C. (2011), Democratic subjectivities in network governance: A Q methodology study of English and Dutch public managers. Public Administration, 89 (4), pp. 1253–1273.10.1111/j.1467-9299.2010.01888.xCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jing, Y. J. (2015), Between control and empowerment: Governmental strategies towards the development of the non-profit sector in China. Asian Studies Review, 39(4), pp. 589–608.10.1080/10357823.2015.1090394CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kang, X. G. and Heng, H. (2008), Graduated controls: The state–society relationship in contemporary China. Modern China, 34(1), pp. 36–55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Klijn, E. H., van Twist, M., van der Steen, M. and Jeffares, S. (2016), Public managers, media influence, and governance: three research traditions empirically explored. Administration & Society, 48 (9), pp. 1036–1058.10.1177/0095399714527752CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lee, E. W. and Haque, M. S. (2006), The New Public Management reform and governance in Asian NICs: A comparison of Hong Kong and Singapore. Governance, 19(4), pp. 605–626.10.1111/j.1468-0491.2006.00330.xCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Li, Y. W. and Qiu, S. (2020), More ‘government’, less ‘governance’: Chinese public employees’ preferences for governing public service delivery. Policy Studies, doi: 10.1080/01442872.2020.1772218.Google Scholar
McKeown, B. and Thomas, D. B. (2013), Q methodology. London: Sage.10.4135/9781483384412CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ministry of Civil Affairs, PRC. (2017), Statistical communiqué on the 2017 social service and development. Retrieved from http://www.mca.gov.cn/article/sj/tjgb/ Google Scholar
Saich, T. (2000), Negotiating the state: The development of social organizations in China. The China Quarterly, 161, pp. 124–41.10.1017/S0305741000003969CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Spires, A. J. (2019), Regulation as political control: China’s first charity law and its implications for civil society. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, doi: https://doi.org/10.1177/0899764019883939.Google Scholar
Teets, J. C. (2014), Civil Society under authoritarianism: The China model. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Watts, S. and Stenner, P. (2012), Doing Q methodological research: theory, method and interpretation. London: Sage.10.4135/9781446251911CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wen, Z. (2017), Government purchase of services in China: Similar intentions, different policy designs. Public Administration and Development, 37(1), pp. 65–78.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zabala, A. (2014), qmethod: A package to explore human perspectives using Q methodology. The R Journal, 6 (2), pp. 163–173.10.32614/RJ-2014-032CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zhao, R., Wu, Z. S. and Tao, C. J. (2016), Understanding service contracting and its impact on NGO development in China. Voluntas, doi: 10.1007/s11266-016-9714-3 CrossRefGoogle Scholar