The decision-making behavior of local governments is not isolated. Their policy responses are influenced by the actions of surrounding cities, creating complex patterns of policy diffusion across multiple levels of government. The “spatial turn” in policy diffusion research has yielded a valuable spatial perspective on intergovernmental interaction, offering a clearer understanding of local government decision-making processes. This article focuses on ride-hailing regulatory policies in 277 Chinese prefecture-level cities, using spatial econometric models that consider geographic, economic, and administrative distances. The study empirically analyzes the intergovernmental interactive decision-making and spatial diffusion patterns during policy adoption of local government. It is found that a significant positive spatial dependence exits in China’s ride-hailing regulatory policies. Horizontal diffusion reveals that local governments tend to follow cities with similar economic levels and adopt alternative policy content in alignment with cities at the same administrative level. Such decision-making interaction among peer governments amplifies the diffusion effect of top-down coercive mechanisms, while vertical diffusion from different sources exhibits overlapping influences. This article re-examines traditional policy diffusion theories and assumptions from a spatial perspective, contributing to a deeper understanding of local government agenda setting and policy adoption processes.

Data-driven network analysis methods provide new perspectives for the understanding of emission reduction synergy. This paper sorts out the historical logic, spatial characteristics and driving factors of China-style modernization regional emission reduction policy synergy from both historical and practical perspectives, in order to provide reference for policy formulation. Different from the existing investigation of the synergy between government departments, this paper constructs an inter-provincial policy network measurement model based on natural language processing, based on big data text analysis to measure the coordination degree of 4988 inter-provincial and regional policies and 275 central policy concerns, introduces social network analysis technology to construct an inter-provincial policy coordination network, and studies the impact of central policy focus on local emission reduction policy coordination. Based on the BERTopic model, it is found that the regional coordinated emission reduction policy has gone through three stages: radiation in key demonstration areas, regional coordinated strategic guidance and national systematic classification policy, and three mechanisms have been formed: differentiated target response, expanded synergy scope and concrete policy content. Applied social network analysis shows that there are 457 emission reduction synergies coexisting among 31 provinces, and the network shows a tight imbalance between the central and eastern parts and the loose imbalance in the western and northern parts of the south. Among them, Beijing, Shanghai and Jiangsu are the core actors, Jilin, Ningxia and Heilongjiang are the marginal actors, and Hubei and Hunan play the role of "bridges"; Finally, based on the secondary assignment procedure of multiple regression, it is found that the higher the attention of the central government, the closer the geographical location, and the greater the gap in economic development level, the more conducive to regional emission reduction coordination. The central government should balance policy concerns, adhere to quantitative targets and structural optimization, and implement policies according to role positioning.

governance system. Existing research has found that policy attributes, hierarchies and institutional environments are important factors leading to different modes of policy implementation. This paper integrates the two key variables of institutional coupling and situational incentive to construct a theoretical analysis framework, and then divides the policy implementation modes into four execution modes of competitive innovation, administrative utilization, symbolic leadership, and conflict adjustment, in order to open the process "black box" of the different policy implementation modes.  Through the multi-case comparative study of different party and government departments, townships and streets in L City which is to general establish legal counsel system, the theoretical presupposition is verified in this paper. At the same time, this paper finds that as the "sinking" of superior policies impacts the governance field of local governments, the two key influencing factors, institutional coupling and situational incentive, shape the response process and behavior pattern of stripe department and block department within local governments, through the dynamic mechanism of legitimacy recognition and political-economic incentive under the dual logic of legitimacy and rationality. The typification of different policy implementation modes not only expands the research related to the differentiated models of policy implementation, but also expands the research related to the organizational behavioral logic.

Wicked problems have emerged as a focal point in policy research, with project-based governance representing a conventional approach to address these issues. Taking the defense of blue sky and clear water in H province as case study, this paper tries to reveal the logic of policy implementation in the project-based governance for wicked problems, and analyzes the generative mechanisms of “compliance-adaptation” implementation, so as to explain how the project system fosters effective governance of such challenges. Through a multi-case analysis, we discover that the project system enhances constraints on means and processes during policy implementation. The interaction between project goals and policy objectives facilitates a two-stage implementation process. We categorize“compliance-adaptation” implementation into four types based on the variables of tool suitability and resource adequacy. The double-edged sword effect, along with institutional arrangements, elucidates the generative mechanisms of “compliance-adaptation” implementation. While the project system addresses dilemmas associated with wicked problems—such as insufficient information, resources, and motivation—it also introduces challenges like adaptability risks, project fragmentation, and structural resource shortages, which may undermine the overall effectiveness of governance. Effective adaptive implementation, aimed at achieving policy objectives, relies on specific institutional arrangements. The “compliance-adaptation” implementation reveals the complexity theory implication within the project-based governance for wicked problems.

consumers, which is critical to improve the efficiency of healthcare market. As one of its application forms, hospital ranking program has attracted much attention in recent years. Based on evidence from the main-stream English journals in Health Economics and Health Policy, this study conducted a narrative review to investigate the impact of hospital price and quality transparency on (1) consumer’s healthcare choices and hospital’s market shares, and (2) healthcare quality and hospital’s strategic behavior. This study found that hospital price and quality transparency did not improve patients' choice as theory expected, and therefore failed to significantly change hospital market shares. Hospital quality transparency policy improved hospital’s performance on some specific quality indicators targeted by ranking and rating schemes. However, it did not significantly improve patients' health outcomes and, alternatively, fostered hospital’s strategic behavior. Regulation, competition and reputation are three main channels through which hospital quality transparency could affect care quality. In healthcare sector, non-financial and intrinsic incentives might be more important than financial and extrinsic incentives.

Multi-entity cooperation in providing integrated medical and endowment service can fully stimulate the potential and vitality of service providers and accelerate resource sharing, and it is the basis of improving the service level and efficiency. Exploring how relationship capital can promote the formation of the service cooperation network for the integrated medical and endowment service is conducive to a deeper understanding of the service cooperation mechanism. It has theoretical value and policy significance for government departments, elderly care institutions, and medical institutions to gather together and promote the formation of a cooperative network. Based on typical cases, this paper uses grounded theory and qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) to analyze the formation path and specific effects of relationship capital to promote the integrated medical and endowment service cooperation network. It is found that there are multiple concurrent causal relationships between relational capital, situational conditions, trigger conditions, and the results of cooperative network formation. Multiple conditions promote the formation of cooperative networks through the combination and matching of government relational capital configuration, comprehensive relational capital configuration, and non-governmental relational capital configuration, which can produce recruitment effect, link effect, and catalytic effect respectively. From the perspective of expanding cooperative relationships, accumulating social relationship capital, and leveraging superior relationship resources, the dilemma of service cooperation can be overcome. At the same time, this conclusion emphasizes the important role of relationship capital in the field of public service governance in China, expands the research on the antecedent conditions of the public service cooperation network formation, and improves and develops the cooperative governance theory.

In the context of accelerating population aging and rising health costs, it raises public awareness that how to control the health costs and maintain the health status of the elderly people simultaneously in the new round of Chinese health reform. This study uses the panel data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study（CHARLS）2013 and 2015 to evaluate the economic and health performance of health checkups for the elderly under the coarsened exact matching and difference-in difference framework. The results indicate that health checkups improved inpatient service utilization, reduced outpatient service utilization, and significantly improved health-related quality of life without significantly increase in health care burden. However, the economic and health performance had significant age and urban-rural heterogeneity. It is recommended to improve the content and process of free health checkups for the elderly to enhance the sense of gain; actively promote the development of the "Block-chain + Health" service model and strengthen the use of health data; improve the health literacy of the population and build a governance pattern of "universal participation in the health community". 

The personality traits, behavioral qualities and organizational climate created by grassroots leaders are important factors influencing the innovative behavior of grassroots cadres, yet existing research has not clearly elucidated the mechanisms and boundary conditions between the two. Based on self-determination theory and policy entrepreneurship theory, the article explores the influence of a practical leadership style on the innovative behavior of grassroots cadres and its internal mechanism using empirical evidence from a county-level region. The study finds that a practical leadership style has a significant positive impact on the innovative behavior of grassroots cadres; mechanism analysis shows that work autonomy plays a partially mediating role between practical leadership style and grassroots cadres' innovative behavior; and further analysis reveals that both material and spiritual incentives play a positive moderating role in the impact of practical leadership style on work autonomy. In view of this, this paper puts forward the policy suggestions of optimizing the appointment criteria of cadres and improving the training system, paying attention to the psychological perception of cadres and satisfying the demand for autonomy, and opening up the promotion channels of cadres and enriching the spiritual incentives.

mobilization remains an important issue that needs to be explained in the academic community. Based on the practice of public cultural governance in five villages and towns in H County, Gansu Province, this paper uses the Grounded theory to build a theoretical model of "relational governance" to explain the behavior model of township government policy mobilization. Research has found that township governments establish rural social networks based on the correlation between governance elements such as institutions, interests, and culture. Through policy innovation mechanisms, task decomposition mechanisms, and mass mobilization mechanisms, the effective transmission of rural public cultural governance tasks between townships and villages has been achieved, enhancing the ability of various governance entities to act in concert, and thus achieving policy mobilization goals in both vertical and horizontal dimensions. This article expands the research perspective of policy mobilization and can provide reference for policy implementation practices under soft constraint scenarios.

Replication is viewed sitting at the heart of any scientific progress. Walker James, and Brewer(2017) argued that replication studies with variation could help refine theory and strengthen external validity. Even though the importance of replication studies is obvious, experimental replications remain undeveloped in the discipline of public administration and management. This study is geared towards the reappraisal of existing experimental replication studies in the discipline of public administration. We reviewed and discussed 17 experimental replications, guided by the theoretical framework initiated by Walker et al. (2018). We discovered that the most prominent issue is establishing validity. Additionally, we observed that certain replication methods and fundamental experimental requirements were, to some extent, overlooked. We also noticed a scarcity of replications conducted within the Chinese context. We advocate for an increase in experimental replications that test theories developed in Western societies within the Chinese context. Comparative replications not only enhance the quality of Public Administration scholarship but also aid in the development of mid-range theories and robust lessons for experimental practice.