Research On The Intention Involved In The Governance Of Corruption In The Grass-roots Level From The Masses

Since the 18 th National Congress,the Party Central Committee has taken anti-corruption strategy for fighting with “Tigers” and “Flies” and extended the policy on being strict in Party discipline to the base level and depth unalterably.With anti-corruption efforts in recent years,the governance of corruption in the grass-roots level has become a key breakthrough in anti-corruption.However,in the literature on corruption at the grass-roots level in China,the existing researches focus on the explanation from the State-Centrism perspective and lacks the discussion from the Society-Centrism perspective.Much literature focuses on the national level while little literature on the issue of the masses’ participation in the governance of corruption in the grass-roots level.The importance of the masses’ participation is underappreciated.This phenomenon of insufficient research is not conducive to improving the overall effectiveness of the anti-corruption work at the grass-roots level.Hoping to build a“Dissimilar anti-corruption” path and provide the effective assistance to the work of professional anti-corruption institution,this study uses the participation intention as the agent of the actual participation behavior.Combined with the reality of China,this study investigates and evaluates the intention of the masses’ participation in the governance of corruption in the grass-roots level from the Society-Centrism perspective,and puts forward the following three key problems to be solved.Under the “New Normal” of anti-corruption,are the masses willing to participate in the governance of corruption in the grass-roots level? What are the key factors affecting the masses’ participation? What is the underlying mechanism of these factors?In view of the above problems,this study,based on the pragmatic knowledge view,combines literature,questionnaire and interview.First,by summarizing and integrating TPB,TPS,SDT and EST,the analysis framework for the masses’ participation intention in the governance of corruption at the grass-roots level is constructed,with the structure in the analysis framework explained in detail.Then,primary data were collected from998 respondents through the questionnaire survey,verifying the key components of the analysis framework and exploring endogenous influencing factors and the overall status quo.Once again,primary data were collected from 20 respondents through the personal interview,verifying the remaining components of the analysis framework and revealing the deep mechanism of endogenous influencing factors.Finally,this paper summarizes the relevant experience from Denmark,Singapore and Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of China,analyzes the common elements and extracts the local enlightenment on improving the masses’ participation intention.Through the above studies,there are several findings.First,under the “New Normal” of anti-corruption,the masses have strong intention to participate in the governance of corruption in the grass-roots level.The masses tend to engage in rule-based ways of cooperating in anti-corruption investigations and reporting corruption rather than in value-based ways of refusing bribe demands.There are significant differences about participation intention among different groups,which are mainly conveyed in the fact that the female are superior to the male,that the young are superior to the middle-aged and old people,that the people with higher education are superior to those with lower education,that the people with higher salary is superior to those with lower salary,and that the Party members’ participation intention is of no prominence.Specifically,the participation intention of the male,the middle-aged and old people,or the party members,is not as prominent as expected.Second,autonomy(evaluation toward the participation),competence(perceived behavioral control,perception toward the corruption)and relatedness(subjective norm)are the logical starting point of the individual participation intention.The first two basic needs can directly and positively influence the participation intention,while the latter can only play an indirect role.The middle-aged and old people,the people with lower education or with lower salary also show insufficient performance in evaluation toward the participation and perceived behavioral control.Third,the participation intention is a dynamic psychological state from shallow to deep,including controlled motivation after meeting the relatedness(subjective norm),functional motivation after meeting the competence(perceived behavioral control,perception toward the corruption),or autonomous motivation after meeting the autonomy(evaluation toward the participation).The output of the participation intention by the former motivation is in the germination stage of intention,with the degree of “psychological involvement”being low.The output of the participation intention by the latter two motivations for participation is in the formation and stability of intention,which are the key to deep personal involvement.Furthermore,they are also influenced by exogenous factors such as government system,political culture and participation mechanism.Based on the research conclusions,drawn from effective experience from Denmark,Singapore and Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of China in improving the masses’ participation intention in the governance of corruption and combining with the actual situation in Chinese mainland,the following countermeasures and suggestions are proposed.First,the autonomy(evaluation toward the participation)is met by strengthening the authority of the governance of corruption and reversing the trend of corruption folklore to stimulate the masses’ autonomous motivation.Second,the functional motivation of the mass can be stimulated by improving the whistle blower protection system,enhancing online and offline participation channels,and giving material and spiritual rewards to meet the competence(perceived behavioral control).Third,to meet the competence(perception toward the corruption),it is necessary to carry out corruption cognition education and targeted ability training to further stimulate the functional motivation of the masses.The conclusions of this study are of academic and practical significance.In terms of the academic significance,the theoretical system for the governance of corruption in our country has been developed academically.First,this study explores the problem in the governance of corruption in the grass-roots level based on the Society-Centrism perspective,which is conducive to expanding the new thinking of the governance of corruption in the grass-roots level.Second,this study strictly distinguishes the masses’ intention and actual behavior of participating in the governance of corruption in the grass-roots level,which is conducive to refining the research field of the masses’ participation in the governance of corruption in the grass-roots level.Third,this study explores more endogenous factors affecting the masses’ participation intention in the governance of corruption at the grass-roots level and reveals its underlying mechanism,which is conducive to enriching the study of the masses’ participation in the governance of corruption.In terms of practical significance,it provides an important basis for guiding the masses to participate in the governance of corruption in the grass-roots level.The conclusions of this study show that if individuals are expected to maintain a deep participation in the governance of corruption in the grass-roots level,they will enabled to obtain substantial benefits(“Usefulness” benefits)from the governance of corruption in the grass-roots level.The second is to make them believe that they have the obligation and responsibility to reduce corruption in the grass-roots level(“Obligatory”satisfaction).The satisfaction of their autonomy(evaluation toward the participation)and competence(perceived behavioral control,perception toward the corruption)is paid attention to stimulate their functional motivation and autonomous motivation.This is conducive to strengthening the pertinence of relevant countermeasures and suggestions.In the future,efforts should be made to deepen the following study directions.First,the scope of study is expanded to be on more typical cities in the west,central and east,and to compare the commonalities and differences of the masses’ participation intention in different regions.Second,the people are taken who have not seen any corruption phenomenon as the object of study and the participation intention is compared with those who have seen corruption phenomenon.Third,the possible existence of more important and critical factors and variables is further considered,while it continues to explore the underlying mechanism for interaction between the variables.Fourth,a study is continued of actual participation behavior based on the participation intention,with whether there being a paradox between participation intention and actual participation behavior explored.