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Effective Regulations with Little Effect? The Antecedents of the Perceptions of Environmental Officials on Enforcement Effectiveness in China

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Abstract

Enforcement gaps are an especially vexing problem in China due to pervasive “pro-growth” local government priorities, the weak administrative capacity of environmental agencies themselves, and relatively weak levels of societal support for a cleaner environment. This study seeks to examine this problem from the perspective of the local enforcement officials by empirically examining the relationships between these and other influences on their perceptions of enforcement effectiveness. Using samples of enforcement officials from the fast-growing cities of Chengdu, Dalian, and Guangzhou, this study finds that many of the more commonly cited problems related to regulatory enforcement were not as influential in accounting for variations in perceptions of enforcement effectiveness than the current literature might suggest. Moreover, this study also finds that the pattern of influences varies greatly across jurisdictions, with only the officials’ belief in the legitimacy of the governments’ policies being significant in all three samples. Strong influences on perceptions of enforcement effectiveness in two of the three samples include the environmental values of enforcement officials, their perceptions of organizational capacity for enforcement, and their assessment of government support for environmental protection. Although government support was found to be a strong predictor of enforcement effectiveness in two of the three samples, the influence of societal support had a somewhat mixed and more complicated effect. In addition, this study suggests that further improvements in enforcement effectiveness may be possible by cultivating or selecting enforcement officials with strong environmental values and beliefs in the legitimacy of the government’s environmental policy to take charge of enforcement. Because it is generally accepted that local environmental protection bureaus are generally upgrading their organizational capacity for improvement as the result of increasing central government support for environmental protection and institutional restructuring, and because environmental awareness in China is growing, this study suggests that some incremental progress is likely in China’s efforts to close the enforcement gap. Unfortunately, such improvements are likely to be masked by the steep trajectory of economic growth, the narrow scope of regulatory control (i.e., with scant attention paid to nonindustrial sources), and the migration of industrial pollution to rural areas.

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Notes

  1. The “three synchronizations” requires that pollution facilities and the principal parts of a construction project be designed, constructed, and put into operation in a coordinated manner with special attention to environmental considerations.

  2. For example, during a 2001 meeting on effective approaches to enforcement, the Bureau Chief critically pointed out that among the major shortcomings of enforcement officials was laxity in securing compliance with enforcement procedures, excessive reliance on “negotiation” in collecting pollution fees, a failure to minimize potential conflicts of interest, and an inappropriate reliance on personal relations with the polluting entities (Jiang 2001a). At another event, this same official criticized the enforcement units for being “slack and ineffective” at some stages in the process (Jiang 2001b).

  3. For example, the number of staff in the GEPB was reduced to 48 from 65 in the last round of restructuring in 2000.

  4. Personal interviews with the Chief Engineer of the GEPB and the staff members of the GEPB’s research unit conducted between 2000 and 2002.

  5. A one-way analysis of variance on each of the variables revealed a number of significant differences in the means among the three samples (P < 0.05): 1) Guangzhou enforcement officials are approximately 3 years younger on average than their counterparts in Dalian. 2) Enforcement officials in Chengdu are less educated than those in both Guangzhou and Dalian. 3) Officials in Guangzhou perceive that they have greater organizational capacity for enforcement as compared to officials in Chengdu. 4) Enforcement officials in Dalian report the highest levels of societal support, followed by those in Chengdu and Guangzhou; and 5) Dalian enforcement officials also report having greater government support for environmental protection. Although there are notable differences in the reported levels of regulatory enforcement effectiveness among the respondents, no significant differences were found among the three samples.

  6. For example, in Dalian major air pollutants including total suspended particulates, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, and nitrogen oxide have recorded reductions of 49%, 37%, 53%, and 32%, respectively, from 1995 to 2000 (China Environment Yearbook 2001, p. 381). In Guangzhou, reductions in the discharge of 12 major pollutants during this period have exceeded the official targets from as little as 7% (sulfur dioxide) to as much as 81% (particulates from industrial processes) (China Environment Yearbook 2001, p. 405).

  7. Weale (1992) has identified four types of implementation failures. The first is the gap between orientation to policy goals and policy output, the second is between orientation to policy goals and policy outcomes (the focus of this study), and the fourth is that between orientation to policy problems and policy outcomes.

  8. Items followed by the letter “R” have been reflected so that high values indicate more of the attribute measured.

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Acknowledgments

The research for this article was partially funded by the project “Environmental Governance in County-Level Cities in the Pearl River Delta Region: Institutional Contexts, Regulatory Strategies, and Stakeholder Incentives” of the Research Grants Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (RGC No.: PolyU5231/02H). The authors would like to thank the four reviewers for their constructive comments on an earlier version of the article.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Management and Marketing, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Kowloon, Hong Kong

    Carlos Wing-Hung Lo

  2. China Europe International Business School (CEIBS), Pudong, 201206, Shanghai, People’s Republic of China

    Gerald E. Fryxell

  3. Department of Government and Public Administration, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, New Territory, Hong Kong

    Wilson Wai-Ho Wong

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  1. Carlos Wing-Hung Lo
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Carlos Wing-Hung Lo.

Appendix 1. Survey items

Appendix 1. Survey items

Enforcement Effectiveness (2 items; α = 0.7611)

  1. 1.

    Overall speaking, my unit is effectively implementing the environmental regulations.

  2. 2.

    Overall speaking, the Environmental Bureau is effectively implementing the environmental regulations.

Environmental Values (11 items; α = 0.65)

  1. 1.

    We are approaching the limit for the number of people the earth can support.

  2. 2.

    The balance of nature is very delicate and easily upset.

  3. 3.

    Humans have the right to modify the natural environment to suit their needs. (R)Footnote 8

  4. 4.

    Mankind was created to rule over the rest of nature. (R)

  5. 5.

    When humans interfere with nature it often produces disastrous consequences. (R)

  6. 6.

    To maintain a healthy economy we will have to develop a steady-state economy where industrial growth is controlled

  7. 7.

    Humans must live in harmony with nature in order to survive.

  8. 8.

    The earth is like a spaceship with only limited room and resources.

  9. 9.

    Humans need not adapt to the natural environment because they can remake it to suit their needs. (R)

  10. 10.

    There are limits to growth beyond which our industrialized society cannot expand.

  11. 11.

    Mankind is severely abusing the environment.

Legitimacy of Environmental Policy (8 items; α = 0.75)

  1. 1.

    Society must give priority to solving environmental problems.

  2. 2.

    Government must give priority to solving environmental problems.

  3. 3.

    Environmental protection is the government’s responsibility.

  4. 4.

    Environmental protection is the polluters’ responsibility; they should pay for all of the costs of protecting the environment.

  5. 5.

    The government should invest more money in environmental protection.

  6. 6.

    The government should earmark more money for environmental protection, even if this requires a tax increase.

  7. 7.

    The government should earmark more money for environmental protection, even if this requires a reduction in infrastructure projects.

  8. 8.

    The government should earmark more money for environmental protection, even if this requires budgetary reductions in housing, education, and medical care.

Government Support (8 items; α = 0.95)

  1. 1.

    There is enough support from the provincial government on enforcement.

  2. 2.

    There is enough support from the city government on enforcement.

  3. 3.

    There is enough support from the district government within the city on enforcement.

  4. 4.

    There is enough support from the city mayor on enforcement.

  5. 5.

    There is enough support from political consultation committee on enforcement.

  6. 6.

    There is enough support from other departments in the city government on enforcement.

  7. 7.

    There is enough support from the central government on enforcement.

  8. 8.

    There is enough support from the provincial government on enforcement.

Societal Support (5 items; α = 0.88)

  1. 1.

    There is enough support from the general public on enforcement.

  2. 2.

    There is enough support from the mass media on enforcement.

  3. 3.

    There is enough support from the business sector on enforcement.

  4. 4.

    There is enough support from social environmental organizations on enforcement.

  5. 5.

    There is enough support from other social organizations on enforcement.

Organizational Capacity (8 items; α = 0.81)

  1. 1.

    There is a lack of resources in my organization. (R)

  2. 2.

    There is a lack of technical training and knowledge in my organization. (R)

  3. 3.

    There is a lack of manpower. (R)

  4. 4.

    There is a lack of administrative support in my organization. (R)

  5. 5.

    There is a lack of communication and understanding in my organization. (R)

  6. 6.

    There is a lack of coordination among departments in my organization. (R)

  7. 7.

    There are conflicting rules and regulations in my organization. (R)

  8. 8.

    Overall, do you agree that internal problems pose great difficulties for your organization in achieving the organizational goals? (R)

Table A2 Comparison of Guangzhou, Dalian, and Chengdu
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Table A3 Environment conditions in Guangzhou, Dalian, and Chengdu, 1997 and 2000a
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Figure A1
figure 2

Location of the three case cities in China: Chengdu, Dalian, and Guangzhou.

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Lo, C.WH., Fryxell, G.E. & Wong, W.WH. Effective Regulations with Little Effect? The Antecedents of the Perceptions of Environmental Officials on Enforcement Effectiveness in China. Environmental Management 38, 388–410 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-005-0075-8

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