公共行政

PSJ — 2026-06-08 Original Regional News, Regional Bias? Evidence From Media Discourses and Welfare Decisions in Germany Stefanie Rueß Abstract ABSTRACT How do media representations of immigrants shape their treatment by street‐level bureaucrats? Despite a uniform federal legal framework, decision‐making varies substantially across local welfare offices. Though prior research links national news reporting and policy implementation, little is known about how regional variation in news reporting on immigration is linked to spatial variation in bureaucratic decision‐making. This is a key gap because regional media structures how residents perceive local developments and problems. I argue that street‐level bureaucrats are embedded within such a regional news environment, where reporting shapes their perception of regional immigration patterns and makes stereotypes cognitively accessible to them, influencing their decisions. I term this dynamic the regional media bias mechanism . To examine this phenomenon, I combine state‐level data on benefit reduction rates in Germany’s welfare program Citizen’s Benefit with regional newspaper articles (2010–2019). Leveraging topic modeling and panel data analysis, I show that regional narratives on rather positive topics of immigration are associated with more favorable administrative outcomes for immigrants, whereas frames emphasizing rather negative aspects correspond with stricter treatment. These results highlight the critical role of regional media in explaining regional variation in administrative decision‐making, thereby shaping policy implementation.

PMR — pp. 1-27 2026-06-08 Original Paradoxical tensions as catalysts: a phenomenon-based study of employee-driven innovation in the civil service Yseult Freeney, Edel Conway, Kathy Monks, Natasha McDowell

PA — 2026-06-08 Original AI Public Value Creation: Data Encoding, Aggregation, and Algorithmic Computation Antonio Cordella, Francesco Gualdi Abstract ABSTRACT AI systems in public administration challenge the premise that value creation arises from managers' strategic mediation among the vertices of Moore's strategic triangle: Public value, legitimacy, and operational capacity. AI imposes new logics that reshape vertices and their interaction dynamics. Critically, these transformations become entrenched through what we term algorithmic public value lock‐in: the crystallization of contingent value definitions into durable technical infrastructures resistant to democratic revision. Examining Peru's SISFOH, an algorithmic welfare‐targeting system, we reveal three interconnected shifts: data management recasts legitimacy as computational objectivity; standardized classifications redefine public value in narrow, quantifiable terms; and algorithmic processing transforms operational capacity from adaptive discretion to rigid execution. Together, these shifts produce lock‐in effects that potentially insulate public value creation from political negotiation.

PMR — pp. 1-28 2026-06-07 Original Negativity trumps source: exploring the perceptions of AI-advice among public officials Yuyan Cao, Xin Liang Abstract The advancement of artificial intelligence (AI) may renew our understanding of evidence-based policymaking. Grounded in motivated reasoning and negativity bias literature, this study adopts a 2 × 2 survey experiment to explore how advice source and valence affect public officials’ trust and policy preference. Findings demonstrate that advice containing negative result exerts disproportionate influence. Moreover, when advice aligns with public officials’ prior policy beliefs, negativity bias amplifies their preference. These findings highlight how cognitive biases impede the public officials’ interpretation to policy advice.

JPART — 2026-06-05 Original The power of compassion-seeking: how enforcement officers’ discursive strategies foster citizens’ cooperative responses under policy ambiguity

JPART — 2026-06-05 Original Awareness, costs, and take-up of social benefits: evidence from a field experiment in China Wenchi Wei, Xin Chen, Xing Ni

PAR — 2026-06-04 Original Which Type of AI ‐Based Public Services Are Citizens More Willing to Accept? Qing Miao, Lin Han Yu

PA — 2026-06-04 Original Unraveling Bureaucratic Procrastination: Probabilistically Sufficient Factors and Necessary Conditions Xi Zhang, Bo Yan, Bin Chen, Long Wu, Yao Liu Abstract ABSTRACT When confronted with demanding workloads and limited resources, grassroots bureaucrats may resort to procrastinating on tasks as a coping strategy. This study integrates the Stimulus‐Organism‐Response (SOR) model, the Social Cognitive Theory (SCT), and the Conservation of Resources (COR) theory to unravel the multi‐layered drivers of bureaucratic procrastination. Using survey data from Chinese grassroots bureaucrats, we employed a dual‐logic approach that incorporated the perspectives of both sufficiency and necessity. The results, visualized through Bottleneck Importance‐Performance Map Analysis (BIPMA), reveal a hierarchy for interventions. Organizational identification emerges as the highest priority, functioning as both a potent sufficient factor and a critical necessary condition. Self‐efficacy serves as a moderate obstacle for specific subgroups who require targeted support, while public service motivation acts as a foundational prerequisite that warrants ongoing maintenance rather than active enhancement. Combined with strategies to mitigate emotional exhaustion, these insights can facilitate a more targeted allocation of resources to curtail bureaucratic procrastination. This research advances the study of bureaucratic behavior by providing actionable guidance to mitigate bureaucratic procrastination and also by offering a methodological contribution through the application of dual‐logic analysis to complex organizational phenomena.

CQ — pp. 1-17 2026-06-04 Original The Afterlife of Problem Judgments: Case Review, Discipline and Judicial Accountability in China Kwai Hang Ng, Peter C.H. Chan Abstract Abstract This article examines the reality of “let the adjudicator judge” by investigating how Chinese judges are held accountable for their judgments under the expanded ex post case review system. We examine the first three years of the implementation of this headline initiative in a grassroots court (Court T) located in a major city in China. Our data include the internal quarterly reports produced by the court’s case review committee and interviews with judges. The assessments went beyond legal analysis, commenting on matters such as work ethic, diligence and moral sensibilities. Frontline judges view the review system as subjective and arbitrary. The new mechanism, however, alters the power dynamics between senior judges and their subordinates. While frontline judges no longer require pre-approval from senior judges, they rely on the goodwill of those same seniors to navigate the review process. Within this ostensibly freer framework, frontline judges are subjected to a more diffuse but pervasive form of discipline. Our analysis reveals how the adjudication committee, far from being sidelined, has shifted its role, concentrating ex ante supervision on a minority of difficult cases while holding judges accountable through ex post reviews of flawed judgments. The article further underscores the challenges of disentangling legal analysis from political supervision in a framework of authoritative legality.

CQ 266 pp. 325-344 2026-06-04 Original Bureaucratic Restructuring and the State-led (De-)Financialization of Local Governance in China Xuchen Zhang, Fenghua Pan Abstract Abstract State-led financialization has emerged as a salient feature of local governance in China, yet it remains underexplored through the lens of bureaucratic restructuring. This paper traces the evolution of local financial agencies since 2002 through four distinct stages: local financial offices ( jinrongban ), financial bureaus ( jinrongju ), financial regulatory bureaus ( jinrong jianguanju ) and financial commissions ( jinrongwei ). Initially, local governments established jinrongban to harness financial capital for regional development. By proactively connecting local firms with capital markets to facilitate corporate listings, they embedded financial logic into local governance, reflecting local state-led financialization. Subsequently, the central government formalized these bodies into jinrongju with expanded mandates, deepening state-led financialization. Later, it systematically devolved regulatory responsibilities and renamed them jinrong jianguanju , elevating regulatory functions to a top priority, illustrating how the central government selectively steered the direction of financialization. Ultimately, provincial agencies were reorganized into jinrongwei and stripped of development functions, while city-level counterparts were largely closed, signifying a shift towards central state-led de-financialization. This trajectory was driven by shifting central–local dynamics, as early bottom-up initiatives were superseded by top-down control. The bureaucratic restructuring examined in this study offers new insights into the state-led (de-)financialization of local governance in China.