The Effectiveness of Online Citizen Evaluation of Government Performance: A Study of the Perceptions of Local Bureaucrats in China

Abstract

Since the 1990s, more local governments across China have launched Internet-based citizen participation in government performance evaluation. However, we know little about how it is perceived by bureaucrats whose attitudes are critical in determining the outcome of this citizen participation. In this article, we present an analytical framework to identify major factors influencing bureaucratic perceptions of the effectiveness of online citizen participation. We use survey data collected from local government bureaucrats in Guangdong Province, China, to test our research hypotheses. The results suggest that the effectiveness of online civic participation is primarily a function of citizens’ capacity and motivation, inter-agency difference, and administrative burden. This article concludes with a discussion about how our study extends previous research on citizen participation and the implications for practitioners and future research.