A Fuzzy-Set Configurational Examination of Governance Capability under Certainty and Uncertainty Conditions: Evidence from the Chinese Provincial Cases of Early COVID-19 Containing Practice

Chao Yang () and Xianyin Meng
Additional contact information
Chao Yang: School of Public Policy and Management, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou 221116, China
Xianyin Meng: School of International and Public Affairs, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200030, China

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 3, 1-20

Abstract: It is a complex task for provincial governments to sustain the effectiveness of the governance system in containing the spread of COVID-19 in the early stages. This study aims to examine the complex causal combinations of certainty, uncertainty and governance capabilities leading to high and low effectiveness of governance across 30 Chinese provincial administrative regions. The fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) shows that: (1) Two paths lead to a high level of governance effectiveness. One is condition-based, while the other is mainly based on the expertise of health directors and low-spreading control conditions. (2) Two paths lead to a low level of governance effectiveness. Because of a high level of spreading control difficulty, most provinces take the first path. (3) The SARS experience in 2003 may not be a necessary condition to improve the governance effectiveness of the COVID-19 outbreak. Provinces could achieve good governance effectiveness even if they had no prior SARS experience. The findings enhance the understanding of the emergency response to a public health crisis in a country with a strong government by clarifying various effective and ineffective configurations. It also reflects China’s existing public health emergency system to maintain sustainable governance under varying degrees of certainty and uncertainty.

Keywords: government management; public health crisis; COVID-19; configurational analysis; qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/3/2828/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/3/2828/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:3:p:2828-:d:1057390

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().