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Privatization reform originated in Western countries and was translated across political regimes. While extensive literature discusses the practices of privatization in liberal democracies, little has been written on its implementation in authoritarian contexts, where the logic of privatization is incompatible with the logic of authoritarianism. This study explores the adoption of a specific administrative model promoted by the privatization reform: nonprofit board governance in Shenzhen, China. We find that, although the nonprofit board is the formal governing structure, regulatory agencies constrain the autonomy of boards, decoupling governance practices from board governance. Two organizational‐level contingency factors—institutional origins and political risks—help explain the balance of the competing logics and the degree of decoupling from board governance. These findings suggest that, within the global privatization movement, the seemingly converging administrative structures embody divergent practices when adapting to local contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The coping behaviors of street-level bureaucrats have received increasing attention in the past decade. Although recent literature has explored the classification of coping behaviors and their antecedents, little is known about how coping behaviors connect street-level bureaucrats' mission attachment, their enforcement effectiveness, and psychological commitment to the organization. In this study, we developed a conceptual framework examining the mediating effects of "moving against regulatees," a coping behavior characterized by rigid enforcement of rules. Using survey data collected from frontline environmental law enforcement officers in China, we found that a strong attachment to the mission was positively related to the coping behavior of moving against regulatees. This behavior was also associated with increased enforcement effectiveness but decreased organizational commitment. The results highlight that, although moving against regulatees is positively associated with immediate enforcement outcomes, it may have a negative association with enforcement performance in the long run by eroding organizational commitment among street-level bureaucrats. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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By integrating the environmental regulation literature and managerial ties theory, this research explores how regulatory ties and firm visibility shape formalism and self-determination, two distinct corporate coping strategies for complying with environmental regulatory demands. Based on survey data collected in China, our empirical results show a U-shaped relationship between firms' regulatory ties and their strict adherence to formal rules (formalism), and an inverted U-shaped relationship between regulatory ties and firm discrepancy in complying with regulations (self-determination). Further, the inverted U-shaped relationship is stronger among firms with less organizational and environmental visibility. Additional analysis further indicates that these relationships are particularly evident in privately owned enterprises. Our study may contribute to the public performance literature by furthering our understanding of regulatory ties as a double-edged sword in corporate compliance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A lack of clear political commitment together with confusing rules and enforcement often characterize the institutional context of policy implementation and regulatory compliance in developing countries. By connecting such contextual features to existing models of policy implementation and regulatory compliance, we examine how regulatory factors are related to basic and proactive corporate environmental management practices in the Pearl River Delta region in China. Drawing on data derived from both a survey and in‐depth interviews, we show that a perception of clear political commitment to environmental protection across multiple government levels and units is positively associated with business efforts in basic environmental practices, regardless of the specific enforcement intensity. Nevertheless, a perception of clear political commitment is not related to proactive environmental practices. Conversely, a perception of policy ambiguity, in the form of confusing regulatory standards and enforcement, is negatively associated with corporate efforts in both basic and proactive environmental practices; yet, intensive inspections mitigate these negative associations with policy ambiguity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing on political opportunity and resource dependency theories, this paper traces the development of 28 environmental NGOs (eNGOs) in China and examines the political and institutional factors that have constrained or facilitated these organizations' policy advocacy activities. The paper shows that political structural changes have created greater opportunities for eNGOs' policy advocacy, and eNGOs with better financial resources and connections to the party-state system are more capable of utilizing these opportunities to enhance their policy advocacy capacity. Yet party-state connections may in turn constrain the types of policy advocacy pursued by these eNGOs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]