Building Service-oriented Government: Lessons, Challenges And Prospects

Lessons, Challenges and Prospects

Wei Wu

• Publisher: WSPC
• Year: 2012
• Print ISBN:
  9789814434539
• eBook ISBN:
  9789814434553
• Topic: Biological Sciences
• Subtopic: Science General
• Index: Biological Sciences

Providing quality public service is one of the essential functions of a government. In the turbulent time, however, governments worldwide are experiencing a variety of unprecedented challenges to meet citizens' increasing demands and expectations. In China, building a service-oriented government and a harmonious society is central to the 12th Five-Year Plan and challenges the governance philosophies, capacities and competencies of Chinese government at every level. Researchers of Nanyang Centre for Public Administration (NCPA) at Nanyang Technological University systematically examined the concept of service-oriented government in the context of China and developed an assessment scheme to evaluate the performance of building service-oriented government in Chinese cities. Under the auspices of the Lien Foundation in Singapore, based on the assessment scheme, they conducted large-scale telephone surveys of citizens and businesses in 32 major Chinese cities in 2011. This book presents their findings and empirical studies on public service performance, citizen satisfaction, political trust and government transparency based on the data collected from the 2011 Lien project. Moreover, it also includes selected papers presented at the 2012 Lien International Conference on Public Administration in Singapore. Contributed by scholars from Mainland China, the US, Hong Kong and Singapore, these papers discuss various important issues related with building a service-oriented government including public ethical values, the roles of NGO, social accountability, urban integration, performance measurement and emotional labor in public service.

Contents:

• Evaluating Public Service Performance in Urban China: Findings From the 2011 Lien Chinese Cities Service-Oriented Government Project (WU Wei, YU Wenxuan, LIN Tingjin, WANG Jun and TAM Waikeung)
• Public Ethical Values and Service-Oriented Government (Kuotsai Tom LIOU)
• The Role of Emotional Labor in Public Service (Meredith A NEWMAN)
• Irrationality, Bricolage, Quality and Performance Measurement: Unpacking the Conundrum in a Comparative East–West Context (Paul HIGGINS)
• Social Accountability for Public Service in Higher Education: A Text Analysis of Chinese Research Universities' Undergraduate Teaching-Learning Quality Annual Reports (TIAN Linghui and XIONG Qingnian)
• Integrated Development of Metropolitan Governance and Public Service: A Case Study of the Pearl River Delta Region (YE Lin)
• The Role of NGOs in Maintaining Social Stability in China — Based on the Perspective of Public Security Service Delivery (HAN Lin)
• Political Trust, Public Service Performance and Government Transparency in China (YU Wenxuan)
• Explaining Citizens' Satisfaction With Public Service Quality in Chinese Cities 2010: Citizen-Level Predictors vs. City-Level Predictors (LIN Tingjin)
• Public Satisfaction Survey and Its Analysis on Chinese Cities Public Education Service — An Empirical Study Based on 2010 Lien Chinese Cities Public Service Quality Evaluation Survey Data (WANG Jun and WU Wei)

Readership: Students and researchers in the fields of policy studies and China studies.

Chapter 1

Evaluating Public Service Performance in Urban China: Findings From the 2011 Lien Chinese Cities Service-Oriented Government Project

Wu Wei^*, Yu Wenxuan^†, Lin Tingjin^†, Wang Jun^§ and Tam Waikeung^¶

China has made remarkable economic and social progress within three decades of the market-oriented reform. However, the country is still facing numerous challenges. During this period of profound transformation, building a service-oriented government and a harmonious society has become central to China’s ongoing administrative reform and has been gradually embraced by government of all levels (Gao and Wang, 2009). A service-oriented government represents a governance mode that places service in the center of government functions, which requires a fundamental transformation of government functions for Chinese public administration. The service-oriented government requires a sufficient understanding of the needs of citizens and businesses that is critical to meet the goals of creating a favorable socio-economic environment and providing quality public services. Building a service-oriented government is one of the important themes of China’s 12^th Five-Year Plan. Therefore, it has become imperative for public administration practitioners, public administration scholars and the public to understand the concept of service-oriented government from a comprehensive survey of how the development of service-oriented government proceeds in China and learn the lessons from both successes and failures.

In 2010, with the generous support from the Lien Foundation in Singapore, the Nanyang Centre for Public Administration (NCPA) at Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and the School of Public Affairs (SPA) at Xiamen University jointly developed the Lien Public Service Excellence Index for Chinese Cities and used it to assess and rank the quality of public service delivery in 32 major Chinese cities. On September 19, 2010, NCPA and SPA introduced the index and reported the ranking in a press conference in Guangzhou. The index and the ranking attracted widespread interest and discussion within China and beyond (Wu et al., 2011). In 2011, based on the latest international and national research and practices and China’s 12^th Five-Year Plan, NCPA systematically updated the index to the “Lien Chinese Cities Service-Oriented Government Index.” The new index reflects the efforts Chinese government makes in building service-oriented government that cannot be sufficiently evaluated by the prior index. According to the “Lien Chinese Cities Service-Oriented Government Index” (the Index hereafter), NCPA and the School of International and Public Affairs at Shanghai Jiao Tong University in China conducted a telephone survey of urban citizens and businesses in 32 major Chinese cities including municipalities directly under the central government, provincial capitals, sub-provincial cites¹ and some important cities during April–June 2011. Based on the data collected, we examined the trajectory of building service-oriented government in China and identified successful practices. The findings of this project do not only illustrate Chinese local governments’ efforts in building service-oriented government but also test the internal and external validity of the Index.

This chapter presents the Lien Chinese Cities Service-Oriented Government Index and analyzes data collected from the 2011 Lien Survey of Service-Oriented Government in Chinese Cities. The chapter has five sections. The first section reviews the existing literature, defines the concept of service-oriented government, and highlights the theoretical backgrounds of the Lien Chinese Cities Service-Oriented Government Index. The second section introduces the Lien Chinese Cities Service-Oriented Government Index. The third section discusses the methodologies adopted by the 2011 Lien Survey of Service-Oriented Government in Chinese Cities, followed by the section presenting the main findings. The final section concludes.

1.1. Public Service, Service-Oriented Government and Evaluation

The Lien Chinese Cities Service-Oriented Government Index was developed as a scientific, practical and localized evaluation scheme for continuously assessing the performance of Chinese cities in building service-oriented government. Developing the Index requires comprehensive examination and comparison of relevant international and national studies and evaluation frameworks on public service delivery and service-oriented government in order to establish its practical relevance and distinguish it from existing similar schemes.

In 2010, we systematically examined the scope, nature and design of the following international or national evaluation schemes on public service quality: Global Competitiveness Index by World Economic Forum (Schwab, 2011), World Competitiveness Index by International Institute for Management Development in Lausanne (World Competitiveness Centre, IMD, 2010), Global Cities Index by Foreign Policy (Foreign Policy, 2008), Quality of Life Index by the Intelligence Unit of Economist (Economist Intelligence Unit, 2005), World Bank’s Doing Business project (The World Bank Group, 2010), Accenture’s Leadership in Customer Service project (Accenture, 2009), Mercer’s 2010 Global Quality of Living survey (Mercer, 2010), the annual Blue Book of City Competitiveness by Chinese Academy of Social Sciences since 2003 (Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, 2010), the annual Strategic Report of China’s Sustainable Development by Chinese Academy of Sciences (Chinese Academy of Sciences, 2010), the 2010 Chinese City Public Service Index developed by Antai College of Economics and Management in Shanghai Jiao Tong University (Antai College of Economics and Management, SJTU, 2010), and the 2009 Index for Public Assessment of Public Service developed by Horizon Research Consultancy Group in China (Horizon Research Consultancy Group, 2009).

Figure 1.1. 2010 Lien Public Service Excellence Index for Chinese Cities.

Drawing upon existing literature and relevant evaluation schemes and fully considering the Chinese characteristics of public service provision, we developed the Lien Public Service Excellence Index for Chinese Cities in 2010. This index has three dimensions: overall public satisfaction, business environment, and general public service (see Figure 1.1). The three dimensions consist of several sub-dimensions. For instance, overall public satisfaction includes citizen satisfaction and business satisfaction. The index has total 106 measurements.

In 2011, after reviewing latest official reports, documents and speeches delivered by Chinese leaders, and reflect on the new development in theory and practice in Chinese public administration. We realized that public service provision is only one of many dimensions of a service-oriented government. The building of service-oriented government in China not only involves the provision of quality public service, but also entails other dimensions such as rule-of-law and democratic governance. A service-oriented government is a government that is effective and transparent, allows democratic participation, provides a favourable environment for sustainable development, produces quality public goods and services, and enjoys a high level of public trust and support. A viable index for service-oriented government should include the aforementioned elements, reflecting Chinese government’s efforts in carrying out administrative reforms, enhancing administrative capacity, empowering citizens’ political participation, and improving the accessibility of government information.

1.2. 2011 Lien Chinese Cities Service-Oriented Government Index

Based on the extant research and a understanding of the nature and scope of a service-oriented government, we developed the 2011 Lien Chinese Cities Service-Oriented Government Index. The Index is an upgrade of the 2010 Lien Public Service Excellence Index for Chinese Cities. In addition to the three dimensions in the previous index — overall public satisfaction, business environment, and general public service, the new index include four additional dimensions: government efficacy, citizen participation in policy making and implementation, government transparency, and government trust (see Figure 1.2).

The 2011 Lien Chinese Cities Service-Oriented Government Index comprises three dimensions: citizen perspective, business perspective, and general public service. The citizen perspective includes five sub-dimensions:

Figure 1.2. 2011 Lien Se...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Preface
• Contents
• Chapter 1. Evaluating Public Service Performance in Urban China: Findings From the 2011 Lien Chinese Cities Service-Oriented Government Project
• Chapter 2. Public Ethical Values and Service-Oriented Government
• Chapter 3. The Role of Emotional Labor in Public Service
• Chapter 4. Irrationality, Bricolage, Quality and Performance Measurement: Unpacking the Conundrum in a Comparative East–West Context
• Chapter 5. Social Accountability for Public Service in Higher Education: A Text Analysis of Chinese Research Universities’ Undergraduate Teaching-Learning Quality Annual Reports
• Chapter 6. Integrated Development of Metropolitan Governance and Public Service: A Case Study of the Pearl River Delta Region
• Chapter 7. The Role of NGOs in Maintaining Social Stability in China — Based on the Perspective of Public Security Service Delivery
• Chapter 8. Political Trust, Public Service Performance and Government Transparency in China
• Chapter 9. Explaining Citizens’ Satisfaction With Public Service Quality in Chinese Cities 2010: Citizen-Level Predictors vs. City-Level Predictors
• Chapter 10. Public Satisfaction Survey and Its Analysis on Chinese Cities Public Education Service — An Empirical Study Based on 2010 Lien Chinese Cities Public Service Quality Evaluation Survey Data
• Index