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Performance‐oriented management has been proposed as a remedy to policy implementation failure, which is a persuasive woe globally. Recent scholarship on policy implementation through performance measurement and management focuses on client‐oriented services, with less attention paid to the inadequacy of performance indicators in covering all desirable policy goals and in incentivizing all government officials in a non‐client‐oriented service arena, for instance, environmental governance. Based on station‐level water quality data before and after the implementation of China's Huai River Basin Water Quality Accountability Program, we utilize a difference‐in‐differences (DiD) method to investigate how various water quality indicators in the Huai River Basin (HRB) have responded to the new personnel‐based performance measurement system which aimed to enhance environmental policy implementation at the local level. We show that the program succeeded in motivating government officials to meet targeted indicators, but it also led to the worsening of non‐targeted ones. We also find that the impact of this personnel‐based program was sensitive to personal and contextual factors: it affected younger local officials more strongly than those who were older and saw a more limited prospect for promotion. These findings provide evidence for the effectiveness of the personnel‐based measurement system, which may be considered by other countries, particularly those with authoritarian regimes and significant policy implementation failures. At the same time, complementary measures such as institutional arrangements that discover and report omitted important performance aspects, should be considered to safeguard the possible pitfalls of the system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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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]

Despite the increasing volume and significance of research on nonprofit advocacy, most studies have focused on the phenomenon only in Western countries. This article expands the scope of the literature by examining the advocacy activities of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in authoritarian China. This article focuses on three aspects of advocacy behavior: advocacy investment and use of insider and outsider tactics. Data analyses of an original nationwide survey of 267 environmental NGOs and semistructured interviews with 30 highlight how resource and institutional factors-government funding, government affiliation, foundation funding, and peer collaborations-shape NGO advocacy in China. The findings also suggest ways in which institutional actors may enhance NGOs' capacity for policy advocacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research explores the implications of nonprofit leaders' government ties for nonprofit operations and functions. Based on 81 survey questionnaires completed by civic environmental NGOs ( eNGOs) in China and interviews with executives from 33 eNGOs, the authors examine the personal backgrounds of eNGO leaders and find that most Chinese civic eNGOs are connected with the government in one or more of three ways: political ties, service organization ties, or personal ties. Personal ties, or good guanxi with government officials, are positively associated with a higher level of funding stability and a more developed management system. Environmental NGOs with leaders who are current government officials or legislative body members are more likely to be engaged in policy advocacy. Service organization ties facilitate eNGOs' efforts to be engaged in legal services and to scale up to work on environmental issues at the national level. Moreover, an eNGO's policy advocacy engagement is associated with its ties with the nonprofit community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines how stakeholder demand and compliance capacity jointly shape corporate environmental coping strategies and subsequently environmental protection practices. A four-dimensional classification of coping strategies—formalism, accommodation, referencing, and self-determination—is conceptualized. Drawing on survey and interview data collected from manufacturing enterprises in China between 2010 and 2012, the paper shows that compared with formalism and accommodation, coping strategies of referencing and self-determination are associated with stronger environmental protection practices. Enterprises adjust their coping strategies by taking into account the constraints defined by both their internal and external environments. The results also demonstrate the potential synergetic effects of state and non-state stakeholders working together in promoting better corporate environmental coping strategies and environmental practices in China. [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]

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]

How do stakeholder demands in response to environmental impacts and top management (TMT) motivations for environmental protection (EP) influence the integration of environmental management programmes within corporations in China? Substantial differences are observed in the way different stakeholder groups influence TMTs' motivations for EP. Local government demands for EP are associated with perceptions of risk from noncompliance. Industry pressure for EP not only has a broader effect but also enhances a belief in the 'business-case' for such programmes, and TMT's commitment to EP. Yet societal pressure is associated with a reduction of enterprise motivations for EP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines how configurations of external support factors have evolved alongside governance reform in recent years and how these evolving configurations have affected regulatory enforcement in four counties in Guangdong Province in China. Based on in-depth interviews with leading officials in the local environmental protection bureaus (EPBs), we show that there have been increases in government and societal support for local EPBs in their regulatory work, thanks partly to a number of recent governance reform efforts, but many problems have remained. Based on a questionnaire survey of enforcement officials, we examine how the perceptions of government and societal support are related to EPB officials’ self-perception of effectiveness. It is found that both local government support and societal support have an influence on enforcement officials’ self-assessment of effectiveness, but the relationships varied considerably depending on various dimensions of effectiveness and the patterns of interactions between government and societal support. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper examines the potential role of civic environmental NGOs in China's democratisation. Based on interviews with 31 NGO officials, the paper examines the origins, structures, and functions of civic environmental NGOs in China. It also examines how various political and resource constraints have shaped their development. While having made progress in organising educational campaigns and specific conservation projects, civic environmental NGOs have been less successful in influencing government decisions and official behaviours. Most recently, some NGOs have made limited progress on these fronts by maintaining a largely non-oppositional stance towards government and by utilising various formal and information channels for influencing government decisions. NGO leaders will have to negotiate with different party-state entities in defining their precise roles in the political process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The governing institutions in China have been undergoing many subtle transformations, especially in the past decade and a half, partly as a response to various challenges posed by the rapidly changing socio-economic landscapes. Many of these institutional transformations, together with related economic changes, have had an impact on environmental management work. Drawing on interviews with local Environmental Protection Bureau (EPB) officials in five cities in Guangdong Province this article examines how their work has been affected by four sets of changes – (1) the introduction of the new system of ‘two separate lines for revenues and expenses’, in which local EPBs are no longer allowed to retain a portion of the pollution fees and fines they collect; (2) the increased spinning off of core functions from EPBs to service and enterprise organisations; (3) the introduction of a new environmental quality administrative leadership responsibility system; and (4) the gradual disappearance of state-owned enterprises. These changes can potentially create a more politically independent, but more accountable, administrative system for carrying out environmental management work. Yet many challenges remain that will limit the capacity of the Chinese environmental management system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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.