Search

As a result of multiple waves of administrative reforms in the past three decades, China's civil service has become more professionalized. Yet public employees appear to have become increasingly dissatisfied in recent years. Based on questionnaire surveys and interviews with environmental enforcement officials in a southern city, this paper traces changes in the job satisfaction levels of these officials between 2000 and 2014. It shows that satisfaction with the extrinsic rewards received and overall job satisfaction declined during this period. These downward trends partly reflected the increasingly challenging institutional environments faced by the officials: rising political and societal demands, inadequate fiscal and personnel resources, and limited enforcement authority. In addition, as the officials became more highly educated and professionalized, mission match became a stronger antecedent of job satisfaction. These findings suggest the importance of meeting the motivational needs of a more professionalized workforce. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The factors that affect the enforcement of environmental regulations by local agencies are investigated by comparing the experiences in Delhi, India, Taipei, Taiwan, and Guangzhou, China. All three cities are situated in rapidly growing areas where they faced air, water and noise pollution problems produced by automobiles, industrial production and increasing populations. The results indicate that the commitment from the national government to local regulatory enforcement remains ineffective because of unfavorable conditions.

This paper compares the key arguments of ecological modernization theory (EMT) with the reality of recent environmental reform in China. Based on data gathered from a survey and in-depth interviews with executives from Hong Kong-based enterprises operating in Guangdong province, we examine the changing roles of government, market, and civil society actors in the reform process, focusing on various types of pressures these actors have exerted on business enterprises. Compatible with Mol's (2006) conjectures, ecological concerns have gradually gained a foothold in existing political, economic, and to a lesser extent, social institutions. Yet, the relevant actors and their patterns of interactions differ from what EMT generalizes from Western European experiences. Specifically, local governments are assuming a more formalized relationship with firms in regulatory enforcement. Among market actors, organizational buyers along the supply chain have exerted more noticeable pressures on manufacturing firms than industrial associations and individual consumers. Civil society, while remaining less of an institutionalized actor in the environmental policy process, appears to pose a perceptible threat to at least some firms. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Examines the institutional constraints of China's environmental management system. Information on some studies of China's environmental problems; Details on the environmental management system established in post-Mao China; Data on environmental regulations in Guangzhou; Reference to some of China's enforcement problems.