Research on the generative logic and configuration effects of the policy implementation environment in China’s grassroots digital construction: Traceability based on grounded theory and the validation of the csQCA method

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Research on the generative logic and

configuration effects of the policy

implementation environment in China’s

grassroots digital construction: Traceability

based on grounded theory and the validation

of the csQCA method

Junjie Li

1,2☯

*, Bangfan Liu

1,2☯

1 School of Public Administration, Yanshan University, Qinhuangdao, China, 2 Hebei Public Policy

Evaluation and Research Center, Qinhuangdao, China

☯ These authors contributed equally to this work.

* [email protected] (JL); [email protected] (BL)

Abstract

Using NVivo12plus software, this study constructs a generation model of the policy imple-

mentation environment in China’s grassroots digital construction by examining the data

from interviews with 37 Chinese grassroots civil servants as its research object. At the same

time, with the help of the csQCA method and on the basis of rooted coding, using Tosmana

software, the model validation and model expansion of 37 cases were carried out. This

study shows that the main components of the policy implementation environment in China’s

grassroots digital construction include five main dimensions: cognitive, emotional, behav-

ioral, normative and control. At the initial stage of China’s grassroots digital construction, the

cognitive environment dimension is the most critical link in the environmental governance of

policy implementation. The cognitive and normative environments dominate the effect pat-

tern of China’s grassroots digital policy implementation. There are six types of motivation

patterns for the environmental effect of the implementation of grassroots digital policy:

know-doing-norm, cognitive-dominant, know-doing-control, emotion-control, behavior-lack-

ing and regulation-dominant types. Based on the above analysis, there are three main policy

suggestions to promote the generation of a productive policy implementation environment

and positive policy effects in China’s digital construction: "degree", "force" and "sense".

These suggestions include strengthening the top-level design, improving the integration and

cooperation degree of the environment, taking the root at the grassroots level to improve the

adaptability of the environment, as well as increasing publicity and promotion to improve the

sense of environmental experience.

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OPEN ACCESS

Citation: Li J, Liu B (2024) Research on the

generative logic and configuration effects of the

policy implementation environment in China’s

grassroots digital construction: Traceability based

on grounded theory and the validation of the

csQCA method. PLoS ONE 19(4): e0301667.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0301667

Editor: Tinggui Chen, Zhejiang Gongshang

University, CHINA

Received: August 3, 2023

Accepted: March 20, 2024

Published: April 18, 2024

Peer Review History: PLOS recognizes the

benefits of transparency in the peer review

process; therefore, we enable the publication of

all of the content of peer review and author

responses alongside final, published articles. The

editorial history of this article is available here:

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0301667

article distributed under the terms of the Creative

Commons Attribution License, which permits

unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in

any medium, provided the original author and

source are credited.

Data Availability Statement: All data comes from

China National Knowledge Infrastructure (https://

www.cnki.net/) And WOS database (http://

1. Introduction

Digital construction at the grassroots level is a significant element of grassroots governance

and an important support for the modernization of the grassroots governance system and

capacity. On the one hand, grassroots digital construction is a process of technical empower-

ment for the modernization of the grassroots governance system and grassroots governance

capacity. On the other hand, the modernization of the grassroots governance system and grass-

roots governance capacity is the management empowerment process of grassroots digital con-

struction. The policy environment is also an important form and carrier of this process of

management empowerment. The so-called policy implementation environment refers to the

sum of all the conditions that affect the implementation of the policy. The implementation of

the policy requires the implementation of the policy; therefore, the policy implementation

environment is the most critical part of the policy environment’s effectiveness.

In recent years, the Chinese government has attached great importance to grassroots digital

governance and has achieved certain governance results. Some research on grassroots digital

governance has also been carried out by the academic community. Fang Fei et al. consider that

instrumental rationality over value rationality is an important reason for the practical difficul-

ties of China’s targeted poverty alleviation policy and that it is necessary to weaken instrumen-

tal rationality and strengthen value rationality in future poverty alleviation governance. Yuan

Mingbao considers that digitalization and textualization have brought about a lack of poverty

governance [1]. Wang Yaling posits that the lack of public participation leads to problems in

smart city construction, such as focusing on technology over application, stereotyping, insuffi-

cient public perception, and the digital divide between urban and rural areas [2]. Huang Jian-

wei et al. state that while it is important to solve the technical dilemma of grassroots digital

governance, it is more important to pay attention to the construction of ethics and promote

the humanization of digital governance [3]. Sun Zongfeng et al. consider that technology,

avoidance of responsibility and field logic constitute the triple logic of the implementation of

targeted poverty alleviation policies at the grassroots level, among which field logic has always

existed in the implementation of grassroots policies [4]. Yu Haichun considers that there are

three main ways to improve the implementation of the system: one is to optimize the alloca-

tion of resources at the grassroots level, the other is to improve the performance appraisal

mechanism, and the third is to improve the adaptability of the bureaucratic system [5]. Han

Ruibo argues that the construction of digital countryside needs to establish a balance mecha-

nism between technical governance and autonomous governance. Among them, technological

governance is dominated by administrative forces, while autonomous governance is domi-

nated by social forces [6]. Chen Xin et al. consider that the distortion of superior attention is

the main cause of digital formalism. To break digital formalism, it is necessary to build a three-

dimensional governance model of the synergistic evolution of "value–institution–technology",

run through public value in digital transformation, give full play to the advantages of digital

technology in flexibility and mobility, and make bureaucracy more suitable. The public value

should be integrated into the digital transformation of the government, and the flexibility and

mobility of digital technology should be brought into play to improve the adaptability of

bureaucracy [7]. Fu Liping et al. consider that township cadres are mainly influenced in two

ways to carry out technological governance actions; one is to increase accountability for policy

implementation, and the other is to use technical means to compress the discretionary power.

After identifying the characteristics of policies, township cadres adopt strategies to carry out

power rent-seeking, formalism, avoidance of responsibility and procedural activities [8].

Wang Xiaoyan posits that the current internal entanglements of e-government include infor-

mation distortion, implementation deviation and correction difficulties. She notes that digital

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webofscience.com/) Readers can freely obtain the

data used in this article based on the search criteria

designed in this article.

Funding: The authors received no specific funding

for this work.

Competing interests: The authors have declared

that no competing interests exist.

governance is the transformation direction of e-government, which needs to realize three

changes: first, from the technology-embedded system to technology-embedded governance;

second, from the affairs center to the personnel center; and third, from input resources to

strengthen innovation and reform [9]. The rapid development of artificial digital technology

in Back East (2021) presents both opportunities and challenges to policy issuance. Based on

historical experience and national conditions, it is believed that the digital transformation of

policy issuance should be gradually promoted and implemented at different levels [10]. Huang

Liuzhao considers that the deviation of grassroots policy implementation is the normal state of

grassroots governance, which has reached a consensus in the academic circle. From the per-

spective of policy design itself and the mutual construction of interest subjects, digital competi-

tion and double game are one explanation for the implementation deviation of poverty

alleviation and relocation policy in inhospitable areas [11]. Tong Linjie et al. consider that digi-

tal formalism is an evolving form of formalism in the information age. It is the result of the

combination of digital forms’ substitution of digital content, rational choice of policy imple-

mentation deviation, longitudinal pressure transmission among bureaucracies, lack of multi-

ple reward and punishment mechanisms and alienation of accountability [12]. Jiang Bao et al.

note that the decoupling of government decision-making and government execution is the

main path to compatible advantages of the hierarchical organization model and the flat organi-

zation model, and the reform of digital government organization needs re-coupling among

organizations on the basis of decoupling [13]. According to Li Xiaofang et al., the types of digi-

tal formalism that should be given special attention include controversial, execution distortion,

"cater-display" and redundancy types [14]. Shao Chunxia et al. argue that digital technology

interacts and influences governance actors. The bureaucratic system’s own digital needs as

well as the willingness and utilization of the bureaucratic personnel will restrict the reconstruc-

tion of the bureaucratic system using digital technology [15]. Dong Shitao et al. consider that

the technology execution system should be reformed to promote the positive interaction

between technology and organization so as to correct the formalism of digital governance [16].

Xu Chang et al. consider that system design and community mobilization are the decisive fac-

tors in the formation of the collaborative governance pattern of grassroots social mobilization.

Among them, system design plays a fundamental role, community mobilization plays a guar-

antor role, and trust and digital technology play a positive regulating role [17]. Yang Weimin

posits that digital formalism is one of the forms of formalism in grassroots governance and

that the regulation of grassroots formalism requires the empowerment and empowerment of

information technology [18]. Yao Qingchen et al. consider that ensuring the data supply relies

on system, mechanism and technological breakthroughs; efforts should be made in concepts,

policies and actions to correct governance deviations, and a solid foundation should be laid in

literacy publicity and legal aspects to deal with cyber risks [19]. Ding Yizhou considers that the

key to transforming institutional advantages into governance effectiveness is to compare the

implementation of policies before and after digital empowerment to find out the advantages

and disadvantages of digital empowerment [20]. Yu Lian et al. consider that there are three

main mechanisms for digital assistance in helping county governments implement policies:

the power concentration mechanism in the information transmission link, the coercive super-

vision mechanism in implementation and the promotion incentive mechanism in assessment.

He pointed out that digital technology helps the establishment of coordinated county govern-

ments, but it is also necessary to be wary of digital distortion, digital prison and digital levia-

than brought by excessive digital dependence [21]. Lu Jiangyang et al. note that digital

empowerment is one of the main ways to correct the deviation of governance behavior of

grassroots governments [22]. Fan Weifeng et al. argue that the deep-seated reasons for digital

levying mainly include four aspects: firstly, digital governance caused by digital cognitive bias

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is divorced from the actual situation at the grassroots level; secondly, there is excessive embedd-

edness in the integration process of bureaucratic governance and digital governance; thirdly,

there is internal tension between social governance and digital governance; and, fourthly, a

"technology execution trap" is formed when digital technology is embedded in grassroots gover-

nance practices [23]. Dong Youhong et al. consider that to analyze the generation mechanism

and deep logic of the overload of grassroots urban transport platforms, it is theoretically neces-

sary to use the "situation-goal-structure" analysis framework to explore the strategies and paths

to resolve the overload under the guidance of this theoretical framework [24]. In addition, on

the one hand, it is necessary to strengthen the overall coordination ability of grassroots plat-

forms, and, on the other hand, it is necessary to give full play to the technical enabling advan-

tages of grassroots urban transport platforms and promote the digital transformation of urban

governance to achieve improved results at the grassroots level of streets and towns.

To sum up, the current research on grassroots digitization policy implementation in Chi-

nese academic circles mainly focuses on the ontology of grassroots digitization policy imple-

mentation, that is, the analysis of the technical, organizational, institutional or specific policy

implementation difficulties encountered in grassroots digitization policy implementation, and

the lack of grassroots digitization policy implementation as a systematic project. From its

internal and external environment, the internal mechanism of its generation and the interac-

tion between its internal and external environment are considered comprehensively. Policy

implementation in grassroots digital construction is not only affected by the policy itself but

also restricted by the implementation environment, which is dialectical unity. Therefore, the

aim of this study is to examine and verify the policy implementation environment of China’s

grassroots digital construction from the perspective of system and environment. Specifically, it

mainly focuses on four major research questions: one is the generation logic of the policy

implementation environment in the grassroots digital construction; the other is whether the

policy implementation environment in the grassroots digital construction is conducive to pol-

icy implementation, that is, the evaluation of the implementation ability of the grassroots digi-

tal policy environment; the third is the multi-factor combination situation and explanation of

the cause of the implementation ability of the grassroots digital policy environment. The

fourth is the specific path and countermeasures for the optimization of implementing the

grassroots digital policy environment. It focuses on the configuration analysis and verification

of the generation logic of the policy implementation environment in grassroots digital con-

struction and realizes a certain degree of theoretical and practical innovation. In terms of theo-

retical innovation, the first aspect is to build a generation model of the policy implementation

environment in grassroots digital construction. The second aspect involves explaining the

internal mechanism of policy implementation environment generation in grassroots digital

construction. Lastly, the third aspect entails building a configuration model of grassroots digi-

tal policy environment implementation. From a practical innovation perspective, the counter-

measures and suggestions for optimizing the implementation environment of grassroots

digital policy are put forward to provide an important basis and reference for the practice of

grassroots digital policy environment optimization.

2. Research methods and data sources

2.1 Research methods

Grounded theory is a qualitative research method. Qualitative research is "an activity that inte-

grates the researcher into the research environment, uses multiple methods to collect data,

studies social phenomena, and analyzes the data by induction in order to form theories and

obtain interpretative understanding." Grounded theory is considered to be the most scientific

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research method in qualitative research. It adopts qualitative methods in research design and

data collection, and quantitative methods in data analysis [25]. This study chooses the analysis

paradigm of grounded theory based on the following two points: first, the macro- and micro-

environments that affect the implementation of grassroots digital policies are constantly devel-

oping and changing. At present, the theoretical circle has not reached a unified and mature

evaluation index system and statistical scale, which needs to be further explored; second, the

practice of grassroots digital governance is restricted by a variety of subjective and objective

factors, and the heterogeneity of social conditions, people’s feelings, ideas and other aspects is

large, so it cannot copy the ready-made theories, methods and models at home and abroad.

Data collection and coding is the core step of rooted theory. The coding process is mainly

divided into open coding, spindle coding and selective coding, and research conclusions are

drawn after theoretical sampling.

This study extracts the generative logic of policy implementation environment in grassroots

digitization construction through rooted theory. The specific research vein mainly includes

four parts: the first is data collection. Through in-depth interviews, focus group interviews,

participant observation and other methods to obtain the original interview data, the research

portrait is drawn. The second is theoretical analysis and model construction. Through open

coding, the data are comprehensively combed; through spindle coding, the data category struc-

ture is formed; by choosing coding, we can find an accurate story line for the research problem

and construct the theoretical model. The third is model interpretation. Inductive logic, com-

bined with research problems, is used to further explain the model systematically. The fourth

is the conclusion and enlightenment. Based on the above analysis and research, this study puts

forward targeted countermeasures and suggestions on the governance dilemmas existing in

the policy implementation environment in the construction of grassroots digitalization.

Qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) is a kind of configuration comparative analysis

method. This method regards positive social phenomena as the different results caused by the

complex combination of different attribute factors. Qualitative comparative analysis, or QCA,

has three main technical forms: CsQCA, MvQCA, and FsQCA. CsQCA is a QCA technique

developed in the late 1980s by Charles Ragin and programmer Kriss Drass [26]. It is by far the

most widely used QCA technology. Its main advantages are reflected in four aspects: first, it

conforms to the principle of simplicity. CsQCA is the most widely used technology in the

political science field among the three QCA methods. Based on a Boolean set, CSQCA can

simplify complex phenomena while better protecting potential interests and related phenom-

ena. Second, it is not limited by the sample size, and the robustness of the result lies in the rep-

resentativeness of the sample. Third, it is suitable for explaining multiple complex causality but

not linear causality. Fourth, qualitative research is often questioned for its lack of universality

and loose structure, while the essence of QCA iteration supports a moderate degree of univer-

sality, can realize the systematic comparison of complex cases, can be transformed into logic,

and has replicability, thus providing QCA with "scientific" characteristics and reducing the

fuzziness and subjectivity of traditional qualitative research [27]. In summary, first, the policy

implementation environment cases in the grassroots digital construction are not the usual dig-

ital data, and it is of little significance to set an accurate threshold; second, there are 37 research

samples and 5 explanatory variables in this study, which meets the QCA’s recommendation of

generally selecting 4–6 interpretation conditions and 10–40 cases; third, the policy implemen-

tation environment in grassroots digitization construction involves many aspects including

organization, technology, system and mechanism and is affected and restricted by compound

causality, which is not suitable for linear causality explanation. Therefore, CsQCA is more in

line with the attributes of the research object in this study and is the most suitable QCA tech-

nology for this study.

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2.2 Data collection and sources

In the process of collecting research cases for this study, MPA students from the class of 2022

in Yanshan University were interviewed about the topic of this study. The interviewees were

clearly informed before the interview; that is, the content of the interviews forms the research

case of this study, which only involves the views pertaining to the topic of this study to avoid

breaching personal privacy. All interviews were approved by the interviewees, and the whole

interview process was recorded. All interviews were with adults. The interviews for this article

were conducted from May 10 to June 15 2023.

Through semi-structured "face-to-face" interviews, realistic materials were collected on the

generative logic and execution dimensions of the policy implementation environment in Chi-

na’s grassroots digital construction. In the interview process, open questions were asked, such

as "How do you evaluate the digital policy environment in your organization?", "What factors

influence your implementation of the digital policy?", etc., to obtain the respondents’ genera-

tive logic and execution information about the policy implementation environment. A detailed

outline of the interviews is shown in Table 1.

In order to collect samples, the researchers conducted interviews with a total of 40 grass-

roots civil servants through Tencent conferences, WeChat voice calls, face-to-face interviews

and other forms of communication from April to May 2023, and recorded the interviewees’

information (see Table 2). The duration of the interviews ranged from 4 to 25 minutes due to

differences in the extent of interviewees’ enthusiasm for the topics of interest. Interviews were

recorded and saved onto a computer by the researcher at the end of the interview. In view of

the needs of the interview, a combined group interview was conducted with some interviewees

from the same unit. Therefore, a total of 37 electronic documents were formed, which became

the main object of rooted theory coding. During the coding, NVivo12plus and ROSTCM were

used to assist the analysis. Thirty-four interview documents were selected for coding analysis

and model construction, and the remaining three were used for saturation testing of rooted

theory.

Table 1. Interview theme and content outline.

Topics of the Interview An outline of the interview

Basic Information Unit, title, gender, age, previous employment, and whether or

not you are involved in digital work

Awareness of the policy implementation

environment in grassroots digital construction

(1) What are the policies on digitalization and digital

government involved in your work? How do you understand

these policies?

(2) What digital platforms are involved in your work? What is

the development status of these digital platforms? Has

digitalization solved social problems that are difficult to be

effectively solved by traditional governance means, especially the

"pain points" and "difficult points" in social problems?

(3) How do you feel when implementing the above policies?

What do you think caused you some pressure when

implementing the above policy? The policy itself? Leaders

assigning tasks? Being tied to performance reviews? Lack of

competence? Information or data security? Confidentiality?. . .

What difficulties have you encountered in implementing the

grassroots digital policy? From your own perspective, what

factors do you think will affect the implementation of the

grassroots digital policy?

(4) If you were asked to evaluate the implementation effect of

the above policies, what would you say?

(5) How do you think the above policies should be improved?

(6) Would you like to add anything to the discussion at this

point?

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Table 2. Information of the grassroots civil servants interviewed.

Id. Interview

subjects

Units Position Gender Job duties Interview

format

N01 Sheen ** W City A City Tax Bureau First-class Administrative Law

Enforcement Officer

Female Administration (official documents,

letters and visits, etc.)

Face to face

N02 Wang * W City F District Finance Bureau First-class Section Member Female We implemented fiscal budgets and

subsidies

Face to Face

N03 Liu * K Street Office, District H, City W Grade I Section Officer Female Health services and administration Face to face

N04 Zhao * W City C County W Subdistrict Office Section I Officer Female General Affairs Face to face

N05 Meng ** Office, Street F, District F, City W Section I Officer Female General Affairs Face to face

N06 Wang * W City F District Tax Bureau Section CHIEF Female Discipline supervision Face to face

N07 Wu ** W City W District Tax Bureau First-class Administrative Law

Enforcement Officer

Male Information collection and

management

Face to face

N08 Lee ** W City, C County, Street B Office Section STAFF Female Rural finance Face to face

N09 Liu ** W District Bureau of Commerce, W

City

Intermediate Skilled Economist Male Market order operation management Face to face

N10 Chang ** W City W District Tax Bureau First-class Administrative Law

Enforcement Officer

Female Assist, tip-off verification Face to face

N11 Song ** Office of F Street, District F, City W Section I Officer Female Financial management Face to face

N12 Lim ** W City F District Tax Bureau Deputy Chief Male Party building Face to face

N13 High ** Baodu Sub-district Office, C County

People’s Government, W City

Business Cadre (Professional and

Technical Personnel Intermediate

Accountant)

Female Economic management station teller Face to face

N14 Zhang ** W City G District Tax Bureau First-class Administrative Law

Enforcement Officer

Male Tax service Face to face

N15 Zang ** W City K District Local Financial

Supervision Bureau

Grade I Section Member Male Party affairs, office Face to face

N16 Liu * W City G District Tax Bureau First- class Administrative Officer Female Tax services Face to face

N17 Lv * W City and L County Public Security

Bureau

Deputy Squadron Leader Female Responsible for general affairs Face to face

N18 Hu ** Q City and Q County Tax Bureau Section Officer Female Tax refund, income forecast Tencent

meeting

N19 Lee * Q City C County D Town Government Section Members Female Township propaganda Tencent

conference

N20 Off ** Commission for Discipline Inspection

of C County, Q City

Section Member Male Discipline inspection Tencent

meeting

N21 Hole ** T City L Civil Bureau Section Staff Female Elderly care, children with disabilities Tencent

conference

N22 Wang ** Q City and L County Development

and Reform Bureau

Section Member Female Economic indicators assessment and

calculation

Tencent

conference

N23 Lee * Q City F District market supervision

Administration

Section Member Female Credit and online transaction

supervision

Tencent

Conference

N24 Wu ** Q City and C County Bureau for

Letters and Calls

Section Member Female Inspector-general Tencent

conference

N25 Zhao ** Q City C County Commissioners

Office Inspection room

Section Member Male Co-ordinating Tencent

conference

N26 Feng ** Q City Public Security Bureau Beidaihe

Branch office

Section Staff Male General administrative work Tencent

Conference

N27 Chang ** Q City B District Tourism and Culture

Radio and Television Bureau

Section Member Female Comprehensive manuscript drafting Tencent

Conference

N28 Xu ** Q City B District Government Office Section Member Female Document flow and handling Tencent

Conference

N29 Beam * T City International Tourism Island

Management Committee Cultural

Tourism Bureau

Section Member Female Publicity Tencent

conference

(Continued )

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Here, two points need to be explained: first, interviews were carried out with the staff of the

big data bureau. Although the big data administration (BDA) is an important government

agency in China coordinating the construction and management of government information

network systems, government data centers, e-government infrastructure, and government

infrastructure and public informatization projects, given that it is a macro-planning and con-

struction unit, the focus of this study is to examine the environment in which specific grass-

roots digital policies are implemented, that is, the specific implementation of digital policies at

the grassroots level. At present, China’s big data bureau is only built to the provincial level, and

no big data bureaus have been established below this level. As far as the current provincial con-

struction is concerned, it is also the function of integrating the existing departments such as

publicity, communication, information and data, so it can be predicted that the establishment

of big data bureaus of governments below the provincial level will also adopt this principle. In

this study, more staff members from the departments of publicity, communication, informa-

tion and data were selected for this consideration. Second, in terms of the representation of

selected groups, this study mainly interviewed MPA graduate students in Yanshan University,

mainly based on two considerations: First, these MPA graduate students are working at the

grassroots level, involving various departments and industries at the grassroots level, distrib-

uted in the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei and Lu-Liao regions, with a considerable degree of repre-

sentation. On the other hand, this study is a multi-case study of qualitative research. Different

from sampling of quantitative research, it follows the basic rules of case study, focusing on

depth rather than breadth. Through in-depth interviews, this study strives to dig and refine the

information and content of respondents from different grassroots units to achieve longitudinal

vitality. In view of achieve the reasoning effect from the case to the general theoretical results

and providing support for the construction and verification of the following theory, the general

Table 2. (Continued)

Id. Interview

subjects

Units Position Gender Job duties Interview

format

N30 Liu ** Q City H District Tax Bureau Section Officer Male Export tax refund Tencent

conference

N31 Pay ** Q City C County Longjiadian Town

People’s Government

Section Member Female Poverty alleviation and prevention of

return to poverty

Tencent

Conference

N32 Single ** Urban Management Bureau office,

District F, Q City

Section Member Female Party work, administrative affairs Tencent

meeting

N33 Hole ** District F Court, City of Q Section Clerk Male Auxiliary judge for cases Tencent

Conference

N34 Liu ** T City and Z City League Municipal

Committee

Secretary of the Communist Party of

China League

Male To organize and lead the work of the

Youth League Municipal Committee

Tencent

Conference

N35 Liu * T City Q City Shaheyi Town People’s

Government

Staff Male Petition to maintain stability Tencent

conference

N36 Liu * Q City B District Customs Section Officer Female General office management jobs Tencent

Conference

N37 Lee ** Q City C County X Town Government Section Member Female People’s Congress, Youth League

Committee, rural revitalization and

poverty alleviation

Tencent

Conference

N38 Yu ** District Court F, City of Q Clerk Female Administration Tencent

Meetings

N39 Lee ** Q City F District L town government

Party building office

Section Member Female Distance education, non-public party

building, veteran cadres

Tencent

conference

N40 Shao * Bohai Township, K District, Q City Staff Male Community building, government

services

Tencent

Conference

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theoretical results have great value and significance in guiding the grassroots digital practice in

China.

3. Rooted theory tracing

3.1 Rooted coding analysis

Interview document analysis processing is based on the data coding operation process and

ideas determined by Glaser et al., including open coding, axial coding and selective coding

[28]. In order to ensure the authenticity and reliability of the case study and avoid the devia-

tion of human subjective understanding as much as possible, the text materials used for coding

are composed of the original fragments of the collected materials.

(1) Open coding. Open coding was used to analyze the interview text materials according

to the conventional process of "original text materials–labeling–conceptualization–categoriza-

tion", and formed 716 "labels" and 38 initial categories. Among them, each "label" corresponds

to more than two original text statements. Each initial category lists one original statement as

an example (Table 3).

(2) Axial coding. The main task of axial coding is to extract the relationship between cate-

gories according to the coding mode. It is a complex induction and deduction process that

links sub-categories and main categories [28], consisting of multiple steps. Through axial cod-

ing, this study further summarizes the above 38 categories into 16 sub-categories including

self-cognition, external cognition, sense of security, sense of experience, sense of boundary,

publicity and interpretation, coordination and integration, passive execution, autonomous

participation, legal system, ideology, values, cultural customs, supervision and management,

feedback reinforcement, and cost control and five main control environment dimensions

including the cognitive dimension, emotional dimension, behavioral dimension, normative

environment dimension, and control environment dimension. The above main categories and

sub-categories of the relationship connotation are shown in Table 4.

(3) Selective coding. The purpose of selective coding is to discover the core category from

the main category and establish the relationship between the core category and other catego-

ries by way of story lines, so as to refine the theoretical model of research [28]. This is the final

link of coding analysis and the formation of theoretical framework. The core category deter-

mined by this research is "the generative logic of policy implementation environment in Chi-

na’s grassroots digital construction", which consists of five main categories: the cognitive

dimension, emotional dimension, behavioral dimension, normative dimension and control

dimension.

The story line generated around this core category can be roughly understood as follows:

the generative logic of the policy implementation environment in China’s grassroots digital

construction is a dynamic operation process driven by the cognitive environment dimension.

The cognitive environment dimension of policy implementation is the basic cognition and

understanding of the policy implementation subject to the situation of China’s grassroots digi-

tal construction. As far as China is concerned, there will be differences in the individual cogni-

tion of various policy implementers in the process of implementing instrumental digital

policies, but the fundamental cognition of policies is the same. It is precisely because of the

consistency of the fundamental cognition of the policy that each policy implementation subject

can take root in the unit and carry out the grassroots digital governance based on the position,

which leads to the emergence of a series of policy implementation emotions and policy imple-

mentation behavior processes. To put it simply, the emotional dimension of policy implemen-

tation in China’s grassroots digital construction is the comprehensive embodiment of the

attitude of each policy implementation subject to their own environment formed on the basis

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Table 3. Open coding and examples.

Category (reference point/piece) Original representative statement

Acknowledging Digital Manulife and the

original intention of design (124)

Yes, I feel that the original intention of his setting up this system

is to make the whole work more efficient, but in fact, when it

comes to the grassroots level, the work is actually more tedious.

(N02)

Digital coordination and integration (79) It can’t just be that there’s no one to take charge of this thing,

there’s no way to share it, well each person does his own thing.

(N04)

Cognition and quality of service object (52) Implementation that is very important, there are some for

example, um, because I stay in the district and county bureau,

which belongs to the grassroots bureau, um, many taxpayers, are

not highly educated, and um, before using paper invoices, they

can go to the front desk to deal with, provide me with the billing

information I want, the front desk will type out that information,

um, now it becomes an electronic invoice, When the taxpayer

needs to go online on his own, he can specifically operate on his

own, and then, at this time, many taxpayers will say that I am old,

and then I can’t operate. (N01)

Digital products are not practical for grassroots

work (45)

Well, I think that according to my current work, well, I think

there are a lot of procedures on the system is too much

patternization, well, there are some unnecessary procedures, but

must go, that is, a simple thing is cumbersome. (N18)

Grassroots autonomy (45) There is absolutely no such initiative to change the existing, he

has to follow. (N03)

Supervision and control (40) He will definitely have some omissions, so he said to supervise

later. (N16)

Leadership perceptions and styles (35) Yes, that is, our town in the e-government this area is not very

developed, that is, no one to pay attention to this thing, including

we go to the edge of the newspaper this information, as long as it

is required to be two days a week, as long as it is the newspaper

two days a week can, he will not ask too much about your

channel, also will not be too concerned about your quality. (N19)

Data security and confidentiality (28) Then the management committee should be our own organ party

committee, they are responsible for themselves, because some

work may be classified, it is not convenient to hand over to the

operating company. (N29)

Allocation and transfer of attention (24) No, it is placed on the side, because his data presentation also

requires our grassroots staff to do a lot of right to do, but it is no

longer needed. (N03)

Digital formalism (20) Well, there’s probably a lot of formalism here, too. (N15)

The reality is to increase the burden on the

grassroots (19)

Well, if you say we go online, we may be, when we let the leader

approve, even if we go online, we may also have to tell him face to

face, we have gone online, please give us a batch, or call the leader

to say. (N10)

System design (18) Well, in order to provide better services, we should, or certain

systems or other aspects, but also force the government to, uh,

provide some platform for the construction of ha, this is the part,

I think so. (N09)

Technical feedback efficiency (14) Another is that he has some things, you say you operate wrong,

you cannot change, and then it is very troublesome, uh need to

report level by level. In order to delete these traces. Let’s say you

make one. A: No. Ah, when you make a plan, you may

accidentally click the wrong point, and then it will be saved, it

cannot be modified, or when you modify it will leave a trace of

invalid, and then when you want to delete, you have to go up layer

by layer, and not necessarily when you delete. (N23)

Number repetition (14) Hm. It’s being pushed across departments. Their own small

program has various websites and so on. But in fact, there is a part

of this function that is completely overlapping. (N35)

(Continued )

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Table 3. (Continued)

Category (reference point/piece) Original representative statement

Experience and gain (13) Yes, it does have an impact on his way of handling complaints,

that is, as a result, the complainants now do not believe in online

complaints. (N24)

Initial issued in superior request (13) Is the implementation of the above, yes, the beginning is the

above unified requirements. (N02)

Time and labor costs (13) It also relates primarily to the issue of human labor costs. (N06)

More publicity (12) B: Well, the snag is that first of all, the rules of our bureau are not

to be advertised. Right now, it’s just peer-to-peer. (N07)

Policy disclosure and interpretation (11) Yeah, that’s it. It’s still going to take this greater publicity, or

some, uh, interpretation of the policy, uh, and then raising the

awareness of the elderly, and uh. In the future, I think the need is

going to be bigger and bigger. (N21)

Process management and processes (10) Can only say that we now this electronic archives, it is just to scan

paper materials into this to put, but not really electronic ah. (N14)

Platform design too idealistic (9) We can only say that the electronic archives we have now, it is just

to scan paper materials into this to put it, but not really electronic

ah. (N38)

Regional differences (9) Well, yes, because I used to work in the Beidaihe District office, I

used to work in the smart city, Beidaihe District smart city, when

I was working in that unit, I felt that the whole platform of

Beidaihe District had been built very well. At that time, we

managed the mayor’s hotline, which is the complaint telephone of

citizens. After calling the mayor’s hotline, They will send a work

order to our district, after sending a work order, we will be sent to

the town or bureau of the territory, but I received from this side,

that is, from the town of Changli this side of the paper work

order, which is actually according to the efficiency is very slow,

very backward. (N19)

Digital abuse (9) It is too widespread. As you mentioned, this feature of the

summary is quite in place, that is, everyone may be engaged in

innovation and management, and if an idea comes out, it may be

a platform, but it will increase the burden of administration, that

is, the burden of many people. (N34)

Technical pressure (7) Well, in terms of the digitization of the court, I think the system

actually has more and more cases as time goes by, and then the

case volume is getting higher and higher, and then the usage rate

and the number of users are increasing. In fact, it is a test for the

carrying capacity of the system, that is, the technology of the

system. (N38)

Low utilization of digital products (5) We do not have such a service such as, uh, this kind of words, we

do not have ah, we are the district level, but you like the city,

including the municipal party committee and the national level, it

does have several platforms, there are several platforms, but the

utilization rate is not high. (N09)

Long-term technical operation and

management (5)

The implementation of this policy, he is not a quick success, that

is, you can first ask for advice, and then all places can feedback

what kind of interface we need, what kind of end, first build the

overall framework, for example, I am, uh, just like the epidemic

aspect of this instant to do the health code, the whole after the

derivative will have a lot of systems, And then slowly integrate,

this time will certainly not be too short, which requires a long-

term problem discovery, feedback, problem solving, this spiral of

this way. (N25)

Poor policy continuity (5) Use, we have used before, is to use the flying book, is to use the

APP, and then we deleted it, because it is no longer needed, the

leader must be signed in person. (N03)

(Continued )

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Table 3. (Continued)

Category (reference point/piece) Original representative statement

Difference of upper and lower organization and

division of labor in top group (5)

Yes or no, he is the upper level and the lower level, it is one

because you, for example, his upper level he is every person, he is

responsible for such a business, it must be a person, it

corresponds to each business, but you go to the grassroots, then

he will be responsible for a lot of people at the same time, yes, so

he is a person will have a lot of UK. (N02)

Digital public service (5) Ah, usually there is a problem, we go to solve the problem,

coordination to solve the problem, there is no problem, then you

are the enterprise’s own development. (N09)

Management inertia (4) I think the main problem is management, uh, the leaders don’t

pay enough attention, and they’re used to it, that is. (N22)

Combine online and offline (4) It’s both. That means both online and offline are important. It’s

important. (N15)

Normalizing consciousness (3) Well, another thing is that this is a problem of consciousness in

the early stage, and later if this is normalized, in a few years,

maybe everyone has this consciousness, and then it will be

changed. (N12)

Organize training (3) Because this is a new platform, his business is too complicated,

and then it is unified organization, ah, to tell the truth, organized

several times training ah, and then it is slowly so the

implementation of open (N02)

Service object credit and compliance (3) I know right? Well, habitually, because there are some people who

are not in regular contact with taxes, yeah, you call them up, you

say they’re going to get a refund, they say you’re a liar, it’s not

right, especially the smaller amount, the smaller amount, ten,

eight, thirty, fifty, and then there was a problem when we were

going forward, which was, uh, one was I said, let’s get this

straight, He then went up to operate ha, his compliance is a

problem, trust is also a problem, but we internal requirements

should be withdrawn, that is to say, we cannot take advantage of

them this cheap, say the money that should be returned, taxpayer

money ah, should be returned to him, you cannot say that the

work is not good to promote ha, you do not return, we also need

to assess, internal assessment. (N06)

Digital literacy and culture (2) I think for example, um, we’re walking, we’re walking down the

street and we see some municipal facility, and it might be broken

or something, and it would be nice if we could, uh, have this

function that reflects the problem for each of us when we see it, if

we could also improve it, I think. (N28)

Digital cocoon room (2) Right, so they don’t have access to, you know, things that other

people are interested in. It has to be more and more of what they

like. (N29)

Digital substitution (2) The interviewee: Well, I think there should be no such thing as a

reduction in the number of people in our tax system, even though

our tax system tends to be electronic, but a lot of data you just

earn from the top, you earn from the system, but your data comes

out, it doesn’t mean that you will understand the analysis, all the

things, you still have to, For example, if you call, uh, and ask the

taxpayer what kind of situation, what kind of situation they have

caused a current tax arrears, and some circumstances of paying

taxes, then we are going to use the data, and then combined with

the actual situation, for his comprehensive analysis. (N18)

(Continued )

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of policy cognition. It has a clear emotional portrait, is the derivative of cognitive environment

dimension, and involves the formation of other policy implementation environments besides

cognitive environment. The behavioral environment of policy implementation in China’s

grassroots digital construction is the sum of the activities carried out by each administrative

executive body to implement the grassroots digital policy, and it involves the selection and

integration process of different types of behaviors such as propaganda, coordination, system,

initiative, and passivism. The normative environment and dimension of policy implementa-

tion in China’s grassroots digitization construction is the sum of the agreed commonly known

or expressly stipulated scales and standards that affect the implementation subjects. It is a pro-

cess of guiding, standardizing and adjusting the behavior environment of policy implementa-

tion to make it gradually standardized, as well as implementing constraints and incentives to

improve it. The control environment dimension of policy implementation in China’s grass-

roots digital construction is the act and process of reviewing the existing behavioral environ-

ment dimension to control it within the normative environment dimension and gradually

optimize it under the guidance of the normative environment dimension and combining with

the actual situation of the stage.

Based on the above analysis, the generation model of the policy environment in China’s

grassroots digital construction can be constructed (Fig 1).

3.2 Test of theoretical saturation

The theoretical saturation test is used to indicate that when there is no new attribute in the cat-

egory generated by the theoretically sampled data, the attribute of the category is saturated,

and there is no new property in the theoretical category; that is, theoretical saturation is

reached [28]. In this study, the remaining three policy texts were also coded and analyzed

according to the rooted theory procedure to test the theoretical saturation. The results show

that the categories overlap and are similar, and there are no new important categories or rela-

tionships. The categories in the model are quite rich. Therefore, it can be considered that the

above model of grassroots digital policy environmental governance process is theoretically

saturated.

3.3 Theoretical model discussion and interpretation

According to the generation model of policy implementation environment constructed via the

above three-step coding, it can be seen that the cognitive dimension derives the emotional

dimension, the emotional dimension influences the behavioral dimension, the behavioral

dimension is the basis for the generation of the normative dimension, the normative dimen-

sion influences the behavioral dimension, and the control dimension ensures that the behav-

ioral dimension conforms to the normative dimension. Under the mutual influence of these

Table 3. (Continued)

Category (reference point/piece) Original representative statement

Digital salvage (2) What we are doing is, uh, if your relatives and friends, they can

help you with this mini application, then it is the best, because

this way is more direct and more convenient, if you really can’t,

even if there are no relatives near your home, it is difficult to live

on your own, then we will take the original way, That is, our

village cadres will go to understand the situation of your family, if

it is really difficult, it is directly by the village cadres to declare this

matter with us, and then we go to the household to investigate.

(N31)

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categories, the policy implementation environment is generated and gradually optimized in

China’s grassroots digital construction until the realization of grassroots digital goals. To be

specific, their respective constituent dimensions are as follows:

(1) The cognitive dimension. The cognitive environment dimension is the logical starting

point for the generation of policy implementation environment in China’s grassroots digital

construction. Under the dual influence of self-cognition and external cognition, the cognitive

environment plays a leading role in the generation of policy implementation environment in

grassroots digital construction. From the perspective of content composition, it consists of two

categories: self-cognition and external cognition.

Table 4. Axial coding and category.

Master Category Sub-Categories The category that affects the

relationship

The connotation of the relationship

Cognitive dimension Self-awareness

External perception

Digital literacy and culture

Acknowledge digital Manulife and design

in the first place

Cognition and quality of service object

Leadership cognition and style

Digital cocoon

The cognitive dimension refers to the sum of the subject’s knowledge and

understanding of things. It is influenced by both self-cognition and external

cognition. It is the logical starting point for the generation of policy

implementation environment in China’s grassroots digital construction.

Emotional landscape

dimension

Sense of Security

A sense of

experience

A sense of

boundaries

Data security and confidentiality

Digital alternatives

Experience and access

Digital public service

Customer credit and compliance

Digital rescue

The emotional dimension is the comprehensive embodiment of the subject’s

inner attitude towards the external things. It is composed of various feelings

and feelings. It is a derivative of cognition. It constitutes the emotional link

generated by the policy implementation environment in China’s grassroots

digital construction.

Behavioral

environment

dimension

Publicity

commentary

Coordination and

integration

Passive execution

Autonomous

participation

Digital coordination and integration

Digital products are not practical for

grassroots work

Grassroots autonomy

Digital formalism

The reality is an increased burden on the

grassroots

Numbers repeat

Initial issued at superior request

Step up publicity

Policy disclosure and interpretation

Process management and procedures

Platform design is too idealistic

Regional differences

Number abuse

Low utilization of digital products

Top group superior and subordinate

organization structure and division

difference

Combination of online and offline

Organize training

The behavioral dimension is the sum of the activities produced by the

subject under the influence of various internal and external stimuli. It is the

active response made by the subject under certain conditions. It is the key

link of policy implementation environment generation in the digital

construction of China’s grassroots.

Standard

environment

dimension

Legal system

Ideology

Values

Cultural practices

System design

Normalization of consciousness

Management inertia

Allocation and diversion of attention

Poor policy persistence

The normative dimension refers to the commonly known or expressly

stipulated standards that affect the subject. It consists of the formal legal

system and informal ideology, values, cultural customs and so on. It has a

stimulating and constraining effect both inside and outside of the subject. It

is another key link in the generation of the policy implementation

environment in the digital construction of China’s grassroots.

Control environment

maintenance

Supervision and

management

Feedback

reinforcement

Cost control

Supervision and control

Technical feedback efficiency

Time and labor costs

Technical pressure

Long-term technical operation and

management

Control environment maintenance refers to the activities and processes in

which the subject is limited to a certain range by internal and external

conditions. It makes the subject activity stay within a certain threshold range

of activities. It is the correction and perfection of the subject’s behavior. It is

the standard environment and optimizes the environment to maintain it. It

is an important link in the generation of policy implementation

environment in China’s grassroots digital construction.

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Self-cognition is the sum of the awareness, understanding and influencing factors of the

policy implementers on their own digital environment in the face of the information revolu-

tion with digital technology as an important feature. It makes the grassroots digitization enter

the vision of the policy implementation subject and is implanted into the whole process of

understanding and implementing the policy. It is a necessary process of generating the policy

implementation environment and an internal determining factor of sustaining the cognitive

environment of policy implementation in the grassroots digitization construction. External

cognition is the sum of the policy implementors’ cognition and understanding of other factors

affecting the implementation of grassroots digital policies besides themselves and their influ-

encing factors. It has an important influence on the maintenance of the cognitive environment

of policy implementation in the grassroots digitization construction. The external cognition

plays an active and counter-effect on the internal cognition of the subject of policy implemen-

tation. When the two directions are consistent, the policy implementer will have a consistent

and stable cognition and understanding of the policy environment in the grassroots digital

construction, which will have a one-way strengthening effect on the policy implementation

practice. When the two directions are inconsistent, the policy implementers will have contra-

dictory knowledge and understanding of the policy environment in the grassroots digital con-

struction, which will have a two-way impact on the policy implementation practice, and make

the policy implementers face the pressure of harmonizing and balancing their own and exter-

nal cognition.

In the process of interviewing the policy implementation environment in the grassroots

digitization construction in China, it is found that the policy implementation subjects have a

deep understanding of digital macro life and good design, believe that their digital quality and

culture can gradually adapt to the needs of grassroots digitization, and believe that the quality

of grassroots service objects is an important factor restricting the implementation of grassroots

digitization policies. It is believed that the cognition and style of leaders have a decisive impact

on the policy implementation environment in the grassroots digital construction.

(2) The emotional environment dimension. The emotional dimension is the compre-

hensive embodiment of the subject’s inner attitude towards external things. It is composed of

Fig 1. Generation model of China’s grassroots digital policy implementation environment.

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various feelings. It is a derivative of cognition. It constitutes the emotional link generated by

the policy implementation environment in China’s grassroots digital construction. From the

perspective of content composition, it mainly includes three aspects: one is the sense of secu-

rity, the other is the sense of experience, and the third is the sense of boundary.

Security refers to the sense of confidence and freedom from fear and anxiety generated by

the policy implementation subject in the face of the digital impact. It is the base and corner-

stone of the emotional environment of policy implementation in China’s grassroots digital

construction.

The sense of experience means that the subject of policy implementation uses their own life

to verify the impression left by the perception of digitalization. It is the most intuitive and key

link to generate the emotional environment of policy implementation in the digital construc-

tion at the grassroots level in China.

The sense of boundary refers to the feelings of policy implementers regarding what belongs

to them and what belongs to others in the digitization process at the grassroots level. It is an

important link in the development of the emotional environment of policy implementation in

the digital construction of the grassroots in China. It has an impact on the sense of security

and experience and provides an important guarantee for the effective and orderly implementa-

tion of policies. It is also an important sign that the emotional environment of policy imple-

mentation tends to be mature in China’s grassroots digital construction.

In the process of interviewing the policy implementation environment in China’s grassroots

digital construction, it is found that digital security and confidentiality are important concerns

to maintain the emotional environment of policy implementation in grassroots digital con-

struction. Policy implementers generally believe that the tension between the security of mas-

sive data at the grassroots level and the openness of digitalization is the key factor restricting

the implementation environment of grassroots digital policy. It is believed that the sense of

experience based on the sense of security is the key link to optimizing the cognitive environ-

ment and improving the behavioral environment. Only the service object has a good sense of

experience; they can thus show a higher degree of credit and compliance. A clear sense of what

they should do and what they should not do is an important guarantee for policy implementa-

tion subjects to accurately do or not do something and provide good digital public services.

(3) The behavioral environment dimension. The behavioral dimension is the sum of the

activities produced by the subject under the influence of various internal and external stimuli.

It is the active response made by the subject under certain conditions. It is a key link in the for-

mation of the policy implementation environment in China’s grassroots digital construction,

because it is the activity and process in which the policy implementation subject takes action

to implement the policy under the stimulation and influence of the cognitive environment and

the emotional environment. It is an important reference link to regulate and control the envi-

ronment of peacekeeping. Its actual process is a test of whether the policy implementation

environment is conducive to policy implementation, and it will also have an impact on the

emotional environment of cognitive and peacekeeping. It plays an important role in the whole

process of generating the policy implementation environment in China’s grassroots digital

construction. It is the most active, uncertain and complex key link in the generation of the

whole policy implementation environment.

In the process of interviewing the policy implementation environment in China’s grassroots

digital construction, it is found that the grassroots digital behavior initially emerges from the

arrangements and requirements of the upper level, and the grassroots autonomy is not strong.

Currently, it is mostly carried out by the combination of online and offline, but it is subject to

the traditional process and there is still an idealized platform design. Problems include the mis-

match between grassroots products and grassroots work, digital formalism and digital abuse,

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the low overall utilization rate of digital products, being limited by regional differences, wide-

spread imbalance in grassroots digital development, and an urgent need to strengthen holistic

and coordinated governance. In addition, grassroots digital policies are not popular and well-

informed at the grassroots level. Many grassroots policy implementors are not clear about Chi-

na’s macro, medium and micro digital policies; therefore, we should improve the publicity and

interpretation of policies, create a good behavior environment, and help improve the efficiency

of grassroots digital policy implementation.

(4) Standardizing the environment dimension. The normative dimension refers to the

standards that affect the subject. It consists of the formal legal system and informal ideology,

values, cultural customs, and so on. It has a stimulating and constraining effect both inside

and outside the subject. It is another key link in the generation of the policy implementation

environment in the digital construction of China’s grassroots. It not only provides important

standards and guidance for the generation of behavioral environment but also the soil infil-

trated by the cognitive environment, emotional environment and behavioral environment. In

terms of the implementation of policies in China’s grassroots digital construction, its norma-

tive environment is different from and related to the whole grassroots digital construction pol-

icy environment. On the one hand, the normative environment of policy implementation is

part of the hard standard system and soft historical and cultural factors related to the actual

implementation in the whole policy environment, and it is the focus and internalization of the

whole policy environment in the implementation level; on the other hand, the standard envi-

ronment of policy implementation is restricted and affected by the overall policy environment,

and the two interact with each other.

In the process of interviewing the policy implementation environment in China’s grassroots

digital construction, it is found that unreasonable system design, poor policy continuity caused

by shifts in government attention allocation, and the inertia of existing grassroots policy imple-

mentation are the main factors for the optimization and improvement of the regulatory envi-

ronment in grassroots digital construction.

(5) Controlling the environment dimension. The control dimension refers to the activi-

ties and processes in which the subject is restricted to a certain range by internal and external

conditions. It keeps the subject activity within a certain threshold. It is the correction and per-

fection of the subject’s behavior. It is the continuation link of the standard environment and

the behavior environment. It is also an important link in the generation of the policy imple-

mentation environment in China’s grassroots digital construction. It is the inflection point of

closed-loop management of the policy implementation environment in China’s grassroots dig-

ital construction within a certain policy time limit. Therefore, it is not only the end point but

also the starting point, or the link that is associated with the cognitive environment dimension,

emotional environment dimension, behavioral environment dimension, normative environ-

ment dimension and every other policy environment link at any time. It is also a very impor-

tant link. This link governance is not good; it is easy for policy implementation behavior

deviation to emerge, seriously affecting the optimization and improvement of the policy

implementation environment, as well as leading to grassroots digital suspension. Grassroots

digital suspension refers to a situation in which digital integration at the grassroots level does

not truly occur; instead, it is separated from grassroots governance outside or parallel to the

traditional grassroots governance state. It will bring digital formalism, cause digital burdens,

and cannot truly realize digital empowerment at the grassroots level. This should be given

attention in the implementation of China’s grassroots digital policy in the future to avoid this

phenomenon as much as possible.

In the interview process of the policy implementation environment in China’s grassroots

digital construction, it is found that the generation of a long-term benign control environment

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requires the investment of a lot of human resources, material resources, financial resources

and intelligence, which is a very challenging task at present and in the future, especially in the

current post-pandemic era. How do we coordinate and balance the relationship between eco-

nomic development and long-term digital construction? This an important question to

answer.

4. Clear set qualitative comparative analysis

As one of the qualitative comparative analysis methods, clear set qualitative comparative analy-

sis (csQCA) is applicable to 10–60 samples. Based on the further verification and extension of

the research results of rooted theory, this study takes 37 interview texts with rooted coding as

the research object to further investigate the executive power of the policy implementation

environment in China’s grassroots digital construction. The implementation of the policy

implementation environment referred to in this study refers to the ability of the policy imple-

mentation subject to evaluate whether the policy implementation environment in which it is

located is conducive to policy implementation. That is to say, if the positive evaluation of the

policy implementation environment is greater than the negative evaluation, it is considered

that the policy implementation environment in which the policy implementation subject is

located has a strong policy implementation ability. This part is mainly realized through the

emotional automatic coding function of NVivo12plus.

4.1 Setting of explanatory variables

Based on the previous rooted coding analysis results, this study takes five generative elements

as explanatory variables of the policy environment generation model in China’s grassroots dig-

ital construction. First, with the help of the matrix coding function of NVivo12plus, a coding

matrix with 37 interview text cases as rows and 5 generative elements as columns is obtained

(see Table 5). Then, under the "bipartite attribution principle" method, the mean value method

is used to assign "1" and "0" to the explanatory variables.

4.2 Setting of the result variable

Based on the results of the rooted coding analysis above, this study considers whether the pol-

icy implementation environment, as evaluated via the policy implementation subject, is con-

ducive to policy implementation as the criterion; that is, when the policy implementation

subject’s positive evaluation of its policy environment is greater than the negative evaluation, it

is assigned 1, whereas when a negative evaluation predominates, it is assigned as 0. This part

uses the automatic coding function of NVivo12plus for emotion recognition and obtains the

calculation value of reference point according to very positive * (1) + relatively positive * (0.7)

+ relatively negative (-0.7) + very negative * (1). If the calculation value is greater than 0, the

value is assigned as 1; otherwise, it is assigned as 0. The interview texts numbered NB, NC,

NH, NI, NG, NM, NO, NQ, NR, NU, NX, NY, NZ, Nb, Nc, Nf, Ng, Nh, and Ni are 1 (the cor-

responding coding reference points are shown in Table 6), and the other values are 0.

4.3 Truth table construction

After assigning values to explanatory and outcome variables, the truth table is built according

to QCA’s research steps. According to the assignment principles of explanatory variables and

outcome variables in each of the above cases, we summarized the data and obtained the truth

table, as shown in Table 7. The truth table code of explanatory variable in case NB is 01100

(from left to right in Table 7), which indicates that the environmental effect of policy

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implementation of grassroots digital construction in case NB is mainly generated by the emo-

tional environment dimension and behavioral environment dimension. The truth table code

of the result variable of case NB is 1, which means that the environmental configuration pro-

duces a good environmental effect, so the result variable is 1.

4.4 Research results and analysis

4.4.1 Univariate necessity analysis. Qualitative comparative analysis is used to study

cases of a "multiple causes and one effect" nature, so it is necessary to test whether each factor

Table 5. Setting of explanatory variables for digitization policy at the grassroots level.

Id. Cognitive context dimension Emotional context Behavioral context Normative context Control dimension

NA 2 0 0 0 1

NB 2 2 8 0 1

NC 15 0 8 6 0

ND 11 3 14 0 0

NE 0 5 18 8 3

NF 5 4 6 2 5

NG 4 3 3 1 0

NH 21 6 7 0 1

NI 5 1 12 1 0

NJ 8 5 3 0 0

NK 4 0 15 1 4

NL 0 0 12 6 8

NM 8 0 15 0 5

NN 6 2 4 0 4

NO 1 3 5 0 3

NP 8 0 3 5 7

NQ 5 2 6 0 1

NR 4 1 5 1 0

NS 3 0 3 1 0

NT 2 0 4 0 4

NU 6 1 4 1 1

NV 3 2 13 3 2

NW 4 3 14 0 2

NX 7 0 13 2 4

NY 5 2 2 0 3

NZ 6 2 2 4 3

Na 9 0 4 3 1

Nb 7 2 7 1 0

Nc 7 0 1 0 0

Nd 8 2 1 2 0

Ne 3 0 8 1 1

Nf 7 0 4 0 2

Ng 1 1 2 0 1

Nh 3 0 5 2 1

Ni 4 0 1 0 3

Ng 3 0 6 1 1

Nk 5 0 4 0 3

Average 5.46 1.41 6.54 1.41 2.03

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can independently affect the outcome. If each explanatory variable in the case can indepen-

dently affect the outcome variable, the QCA method cannot be used in this case [29]. There-

fore, it is necessary to conduct a univariate necessity analysis on the condition variables of the

selected cases.

After the truth table is constructed, the "XY plot" is run in Tosmana software to test whether

there is a single explanatory variable influencing the result variable in the case, that is, to ana-

lyze whether there is a sufficient or necessary relationship between a single explanatory vari-

able and the result variable. Consistency and coverage are used to test the above relationship in

the QCA method.

The judgment principle of consistency is as follows: if the consistency is greater than 0.8

and less than 0.9, it indicates that the single conditional variable X is a sufficient condition for

the result variable Y; if the consistency is greater than 0.9, it means that the single variable X is

a necessary condition for the result variable Y, and vice versa. The coverage rate is used to

explain which combination of condition variables has explanatory power for outcome variable

Y. The greater the coverage rate, the more reason X has to explain Y.

As shown in Table 8, the consistency of the five condition variables is below 0.8, which indi-

cates that these five variables cannot independently affect the grassroots digital policy imple-

mentation. The grassroots digital policy implementation is the result of the joint action of

multiple policy factors, rather than being determined by a single policy factor. It is necessary to

find an effective combination of variables to optimize the environmental effect of policy imple-

mentation in China’s grassroots digital construction.

4.4.2 Qualitative comparison results and theoretical analysis. After the necessity test of

a single variable is passed, the truth table in EXCEL is saved in the.csv file format, the saved.csv

file is imported to Tosmana, and "Start csQCA" is run to obtain the combination of policy ele-

ments that affect the policy implementation environment in the grassroots digital construc-

tion. After calculation, Tosmana software obtains four configuration presentation modes,

Table 6. Basis for setting the result variables.

Id. Interview subjects Reference Point Accounting Values

NB 02 Kings * 1.4

NC 03 Liu * 4.8

NH 08 Lee **+13 Gow ** 2.2

NI 09 Liu ** 4.3

NJ 10 sheets ** 0.6

NM 16 Liu * 1.3

NO 18 Hu ** 3.9

NQ 20 levels ** 6

NR 21 holes ** 6.3

NU 24 Wu ** 0.8

NX 27 sheets ** 9.9

NY 28 Xu ** 8.1

NZ 29 beams * 1.1

Nb 31 Pay ** 2.4

Nc 32 single ** 3.2

Nf 35 Liu * 0.3

Ng 36 Liu * 1.1

Nh 37 Lee ** 2.2

Ni 38 in ** 2.8

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namely, configuration 1, configuration 0, configuration C and configuration R (Fig 2). The so-

called configuration 1 is the sum of the combination of policy elements that make the policy

implementation environment produce a greater effect; configuration 0 refers to the sum of the

combination of policy elements that do not produce a greater effect on the policy implementation

environment; configuration C is the contradictory configuration; configuration R is the logical

remainder. The combined path of configuration 1 and configuration 0 is shown in Table 8.

Table 7. Truth table of variable combinations in different interview cases.

Case Cognitive Context

Dimension (CO)

Emotional Jingwei

(EM)

Behavioral

Dimension (BE)

Specification Boundary

Dimension (ST)

Control Border

Dimension (CT)

Result Environmental

Effects (EF)

NA 0 0 0 0 0 0

NB 0 1 1 0 0 1

NC 1 0 1 1 0 1

ND 1 1 1 0 0 0

NE 0 1 1 1 1 0

NF 0 1 0 1 1 0

NG 0 1 0 0 0 0

NH 1 1 1 0 0 1

NI 0 0 1 0 0 1

NJ 1 1 0 0 0 1

NK 0 0 1 0 1 0

NL 0 0 1 1 1 0

NM 1 0 1 0 1 1

NN 1 1 0 0 1 0

NO 0 1 0 0 1 1

NP 1 0 0 1 1 0

NQ 0 1 0 0 0 1

NR 0 0 0 0 0 1

NS 0 0 0 0 0 0

NT 0 0 0 0 1 0

NU 1 0 0 0 0 1

NV 0 1 1 1 0 0

NW 0 1 1 0 0 0

NX 1 0 1 1 1 1

NY 0 1 0 0 1 1

NZ 1 1 0 1 1 1

Na 1 0 0 1 0 0

Nb 1 1 1 0 0 1

Nc 1 0 0 0 0 1

Nd 1 1 0 1 0 0

Ne 0 0 1 0 0 0

Nf 1 0 0 0 0 1

Ng 0 0 0 0 0 1

Nh 0 0 0 1 0 1

Ni 0 0 0 0 1 1

Ng 0 0 0 0 0 0

Nk 0 0 0 0 1 0

Source: The author based on the actual situation of 37 cases.

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In particular, the result of configuration 1 is shown as follows:

Result = CO * em * BE * ST+CO * be * st * ct+CO * em * BE * CT+co * EM * be * st * CT

+CO * EM * be * ST * CT+co * em * be * ST * ct

The results of configuration 0 are expressed as follows:

Result = co * EM * ST * CT +co * EM * BE * ST +co * em * BE * CT+CO * em * be * ST

+CO * be * ST * ct+CO * EM * be * st * CT

(the "*" in the formula represents the "and" in the intersection, with uppercase for presence

and lowercase for absence)

As can be seen from the qualitative comparison results in Table 9, Path 2 has the highest

coverage rate, indicating that compared with other paths, Path 2 is a combination mode of fac-

tors that play a role in the environmental effect of policy implementation in China’s grassroots

digital construction. The corresponding interview cases are NJ, NU, Nc and Nf, that is, 10

interviewees, 24 Wu **, 32 single ** and 35 Liu *. Their main views are shown in Table 10,

indicating that, currently, the cognitive dimension plays a leading role in the policy

Table 8. Univariate consistency and coverage.

Name of Variable consistency (consistency) coverage

Cognitive Dimension (CO) 0.6667 0.5263

Emotional Context Dimension (EM) 0.5000 0.4211

Behavioral Context Dimension (BE) 0.5000 0.3684

Specification Dimension (ST) 0.3636 0.2105

Control Dimension (CT) 0.4286 0.3158

Data source: compiled according to the calculation results of the software Tosmana.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0301667.t008

Fig 2. Results of qualitative comparative analysis.

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implementation environment of China’s grassroots digital construction, while the environ-

mental effects of behavioral dimension, normative dimension and control dimension have not

been well utilized; that is, overall, China’s grassroots digital construction is still in its initial

stage. Most of the grassroots policy implementation subjects can have a fuller understanding

of the digital empowerment of grassroots development, but subject to their low digital quality,

grassroots digitization has not been developed in a real sense, and the cognition and style of

grassroots leaders have a great impact on the grassroots digital policy implementation environ-

ment. At present, there are problems of digital fragmentation, digital duplication and digital

formalism at the grassroots level.

On the whole, the six paths obtained by the clear set qualitative comparative analysis in this

study are the main combination paths for the policy environmental effect to play in the grass-

roots digital construction in China. Other specific analyses are as follows:

Path 1: Knowing-doing-normative type—its result formula is (cognitive dimension) * (~

emotional dimension) * (behavioral dimension) * (normative dimension) (that is, CO * em *

BE * ST, where "~" represents not, equal to the combination of lowercase letters).

Path 1 represents that the cognitive dimension, behavioral dimension and norm dimension

of policy execution can be generated in China’s grassroots digital construction, so that the

Table 9. Analysis of qualitative comparison results of combination paths of different policy environment effect

factors.

Path combination Coverage Consistency (consistency)

Path 1 CO * em * BE * ST 0.1053 1.0000

Path 2 CO * be * st * ct 0.2105 1.0000

Path 3 CO * em * BE * CT 0.1053 1.0000

Path 4 co * EM * be * st * CT 0.1053 1.0000

Path 5 CO * EM * be * ST * CT 0.0526 1.0000

Path 6 co * em * be * ST * ct 0.0526 1.0000

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Table 10. Cases and main points of view corresponding to Path 2.

Interview

Cases

Interviewee Main point

NJ 10 sheets ** Digital governance breaks through the limitations of time and space and improves

the work efficiency to a certain extent. Leaders are older and prefer paper versions of

reporting materials, which is a release of power for leaders.

NU 24 Wu ** The degree of digitization of the district and county petition work is relatively high,

the standardization of the online petition standardization process is lower than that

of the offline process, and the grassroots work subjects below the district and county

level are not strong enough in their awareness and autonomy to improve their own

digital level and quality. They should increase the publicity, promotion and

utilization rate of digital products, and arouse the awareness of grassroots staff to

participate in digital governance with a sense of experience and acquisition.

Nc 32 single ** The high degree of digitization of the urban management system acknowledges the

convenience brought by digitization to the work, and the management and service

interfaces have tried multiple digital products. Welcome the further digital

transformation of the urban management work and recognize that the lack of

professional talents is the biggest constraint encountered in the future digital

governance efficiency optimization.

Nf 35 Liu * The platform for connecting trust, law and discipline has been running well for more

than a year, with problems such as insufficient publicity and digital formalism. The

town government has its own website, which can handle business. There are

problems of digital duplication and digital fragmentation, which affect the efficiency

of grassroots governance to a certain extent and cause the waste of grassroots human

resources, material resources and financial resources.

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positive environmental effect of policy can be better realized. In other words, the combination

of the cognitive environment dimension, behavioral environment dimension and normative

environment dimension is an effective path to exert the environmental effect of policy imple-

mentation in China’s grassroots digital construction. The corresponding interview cases of

this path are NC and NX, namely interviewees "03 Liu *" and "27 Zhang **". Their main views

are shown in Table 11. This path shows the following: On the one hand, leaders’ digital cogni-

tion and quality is the main cognitive dimension obstacle restricting grassroots digital con-

struction at present. The root cause is that the relationship and transformation between digital

power and traditional organizational power and digital scene and traditional scene are not

straightening out. How to straighten out the relationship between the two is an important

issue to address in the future. On the other hand, on the whole, the digitization process of the

grassroots business side is faster than that of the government side. Although under the guid-

ance of the top-level design of the state, the grassroots have carried out a considerable degree

of behavioral exploration, and there are still some problems such as digital products not being

grounded, digital fragmentation being serious, and the organizational structure not being flat

enough. In addition, in view of the security and confidentiality of traditional government

activities, the policy implementer’s sense of security, experience and boundary of digital-

related change activities has not been truly generated, or the current policy implementer is

optimistic and prudent about grassroots digitalization, and more efforts should be made to

create a good emotional environment in the future.

Path 2: cognitive-oriented—its result formula is (cognitive dimension) * (~ behavioral

dimension) * (~ normative dimension) * (~ control dimension) (CO * be * st * ct).

Path 3: Know-doing-control type—its result formula is (cognitive dimension) * (~ emo-

tional dimension) * (behavioral dimension) * (control dimension) (CO * em * BE * CT).

Path 3 indicates that even without the generation of the emotional dimension, under the

combination of the cognitive dimension, behavioral dimension and control dimension, the

policy implementation environment can still play an effect in the digital construction of the

grassroots level in China. The interview cases corresponding to this path are NM and NX, that

is, interviewees "16 Liu *" and "27 Zhang **". Their main views are shown in Table 12. This

path shows the following:: On the one hand, at present, grassroots digitization has achieved

certain results under the functions of the cognitive, behavioral and control dimensions, but the

Table 11. Cases and main views corresponding to Path 1.

Interview

Cases

Interviewee Main point

NC 03 Liu * The shift in attention results in the waste of digital resources at the grassroots level,

and the reuse rate of digital resources is not high. Leaders tend to follow the existing

management practices and have no motivation for digital application and innovation.

The digital quality of leaders restricts the digitization at the grassroots level, the

penetration and impact of digital power and traditional power, and the

transformation and impact of digital scenes and traditional scenes all affect the

digitization process at the grassroots level.

NX 27 sheets ** The attention of the Tourism and Culture Radio and Television Bureau is mainly

allocated to the business side rather than the government side, the tourism business

interface has a high degree of digitalization, and digitally enabled tourism has

achieved certain results. However, the tension between digital governance and

traditional governance still exists, the flatness required for digital governance has not

been realized, the phenomenon of mismatch between digital products and the actual

situation at the grassroots level still exists, the module design of digital products

urgently needs to be optimized, and the integration and coordination of digital needs

to be further promoted.

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level of grassroots digitization governance is not high enough, and the matching degree

between digitalization and grassroots is not enough. How to promote the optimization of con-

trol dimension and improve the adaptability of digital products to the grassroots is an impor-

tant focus of policy implementation environment optimization in China’s future grassroots

digitization construction. On the other hand, at the grassroots level where the emotional envi-

ronment dimension of the main body of the policy implementation has not been generated,

strengthening the top-level design, using the holistic governance theory and synergy theory,

optimizing the behavioral environment dimension, promoting the flat governance structure,

and breaking the tension between digital governance and traditional governance constitute an

important path for the environmental optimization of the grassroots digital policy

implementation.

Path 4: Emotion-control type—its result formula is (~ cognitive dimension) * (emotional

dimension) * (~ behavioral dimension) * (~ normative dimension) * (control dimension) (co

* EM * be * st * CT).

Path 4 indicates that in the digital construction at the grassroots level in China, in the

absence of a cognitive environment, behavioral environment and normative environment of

peacekeeping, only a good emotional environment and control environment are created, and

the policy implementer can also receive help from the policy environment and enjoy the

empowerment of the policy implementation environment. The interview cases corresponding

to this path are NO and NY, that is, interviewees "18 Hu **" and "28 Xu **". Their main views

are shown in Table 13. This path shows that digitalization is an instrumental trend of change

for the grassroots policy implementation subject; even if they do not understand the global

Table 12. Cases and main views corresponding to Path 3.

Interview

Cases

Interviewee Main point

NM 16 Liu * The level of digital governance needs to be improved, and the issue of digital

fragmentation urgently needs to be addressed.

NX 27 photos

The attention of the Tourism and Culture Radio and Television Bureau is mainly

focused on the business side rather than the government side, the tourism business

interface has a high degree of digitalization, and digitally enabled tourism has

achieved certain results. However, the tension between digital governance and

traditional governance still exists, the flatness required for digital governance has not

been realized, the phenomenon of mismatch between digital products and the actual

situation at the grassroots level still exists, the module design of digital products

urgently needs to be optimized, and the integration and coordination of

digitalization needs to be further promoted.

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Table 13. Cases and main views corresponding to Path 4.

Interview

Cases

Interviewee Main point

NO 18 Hu ** The overall degree of digitalization of tax administration is relatively high,

acknowledging the benefits and convenience brought by digitalization, but there are

currently problems such as digital products being too stereotyped and not flexible

enough and digital platforms not providing timely feedback and governance. I am

not worried about the employment pressure brought by digitalization because I feel

that digital products cannot really understand complex and uncertain management

factors and do not have a substitute role for labor.

NY 28 Xu ** The document circulation system is more and more convenient than before, the

digital urban management has a high degree of recognition that digital quality and

literacy need to be improved, digital products should be promoted, and the awareness

and utilization rate should be increased.

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digitalization wave, digital China, network power and other national strategies, the technical

attributes and tool principles of digitalization itself are not clear; that is, they do not have a

good understanding of grassroots digitalization. As long as they satisfy their emotional

demands for the sense of security, experience and boundary of technological tools, and provide

them with technical feedback guidance and cost control, grassroots policy implementers will

spontaneously use digital technology to carry out work in order to complete their work more

conveniently, that is, they will be manifested as personal spontaneous digitization in terms of

emotional demands. In other words, at present, many grassroots organizations and individuals

are driven by the good emotional benefits of digitalization and spontaneously carry out digital

exploration of unit affairs or business work. For example, administrative examination and

approval departments voluntarily purchased digital products to improve the quality of govern-

ment services many years ago, and they enjoyed certain digital benefits in this process. How-

ever, spontaneous digital governance has also brought about the predicament of a low digital

utilization rate at the grassroots level. Therefore, improvements should be made in the optimi-

zation of behavioral and normative dimensions such as strengthening the publicity and pro-

motion of digital products, improving the awareness of digital policies as well as the utilization

rate of digital products.

Path 5: Behavior deficiency type—its result formula is (cognitive dimension) * (emotional

dimension) * (~ behavioral dimension) * (normative dimension) * (control dimension) (CO *

EM * be * ST * CT).

Path 5 indicates that even if the behavioral dimension is not really generated, the combina-

tion of the cognitive dimension, emotional dimension, normative dimension and control

dimension can still drive the implementation environmental effect of policies in the grassroots

digital construction of China to a certain extent. In other words, the current phenomenon of

wait-and-see change or formal implementation exists in some grassroots digital construction

in China. Even under the combination of the cognitive environment dimension, emotional

environment dimension, normative environment and control environment dimension of

peacekeeping, the grassroots still has the problem of a lack of behavioral environment dimen-

sion of policy implementation, which restricts the level and quality of grassroots digital con-

struction to a large extent. The interview case corresponding to this path is NZ, the interviewer

"29 Liang *". She said in the interview that "the grassroots lack autonomy in the continuous

updating of platform content, the traditional consciousness and cognition of leaders affect the

digital innovation of grassroots work, the digital cocoon restricts people’s digital innovation,

and the level of grassroots digital governance is very limited and needs to be improved." This

path shows that the lack of behavioral dimension is still an important constraint on the effect

of policy implementation environment in the process of grassroots digital construction in

China, and grassroots digitalization is faced with the dual behavioral dimension dilemma of

passive formal implementation and insufficient active participation management.

Path 6: norm-dominated—its result formula is (~ cognitive dimension) * (~ emotional

dimension) * (~ behavioral dimension) * (normative dimension) * (~ control dimension) (co

* em * be * ST * ct).

Path 6 indicates that the normative dimension plays an important leading role in China’s

grassroots digital construction. Even though the grassroots policy implementer does not fully

recognize and understand the attributes of digital technology, it does not utilize digital con-

struction activities in a real sense in order to generate a better sense of security, experience and

boundary in the process of digitization. In the absence of a good technical feedback and super-

vision and assessment environment at the grassroots level, there will still be a certain degree of

environmental effect of policy implementation under the guidance of top-level system design

and planning. The interview case corresponding to this path is Nh, the interviewer "37 Li **".

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She said in the interview: "Under the arrangement and guidance of the superior, the town gov-

ernment has carried out certain digital exploration, which has saved the time and labor cost of

grassroots governance. However, the existing digital system lacks integration and coordination,

and the grassroots digitization does not match the actual grassroots governance. The quality of

digital service at the grassroots level cannot meet the actual situation at the grassroots level, but

she is still optimistic about the further implementation of digitalization." The path shows that

China’s grassroots digital policy implementation environment has the characteristics of strong

obedience, strengthening top-level design, and paying attention to integration and coordina-

tion, and it is an important path for China’s grassroots digital construction and development.

As can be seen from Fig 2, green represents configuration 1 and pink represents configura-

tion 0. Different from configuration 1, the path combinations that can exert the environmental

effects of policy implementation are obtained, while configuration 0 shows which combination

paths of policy environment elements cannot exert the environmental effects of policy imple-

mentation. On the whole, this study uses clear set qualitative comparative analysis to find six

policies that hinder the implementation of policy environment to exert its effects (see

Table 14). The specific analysis is as follows:

~ Path 1: (~ cognitive dimension)* (affective dimension)* (normative dimension)* (control

dimension) (i.e., co * EM * ST * CT)

~ Path 1 indicates that in the current digital construction at the grassroots level in China,

even if the emotional environment dimension, normative environment and control environ-

ment are generated, the cognitive environment dimension of the grassroots policy implemen-

tation subject is not generated, and the policy implementation environment cannot play a

positive role in the policy implementation practice. This path indicates that the cognitive envi-

ronment dimension is very important in the initial stage of grassroots digital construction in

China, and the lack of a good cognitive environment dimension will limit the environmental

effect of policy implementation. If the grassroots policy implementer sees digitization as a task,

or even a formalism to use for the sake of use, digital governance will become a pressure gover-

nance rather than an enabling governance, and the grassroots digitization will lose its meaning.

Therefore, it is crucial to grasp the cognitive bias barrier and create a good cognitive environ-

ment for the grassroots policy implementer. The interview cases corresponding to this path

are NE and NF, that is, the interview groups "05 Meng **+11 Song **" and "06 Wang *+12 Lin

**". Their main views are shown in Table 15. From their views, it is not difficult to see that

their cognition of digitization at the grassroots level is neither dialectical nor adequate, and

even contradictory, and a positive cognitive landscape has not been generated.

~ Path 2: (~ cognitive dimension)* (emotional dimension)* (behavioral dimension)* (nor-

mative dimension) (co * EM * BE * ST)

~ Path 2 indicates that if a grassroots organization does not generate the cognitive dimen-

sion of policy implementation in digital construction, then even if a certain emotional

Table 14. Analysis of qualitative comparison results of combination paths of different policy environment effects

(0 configuration).

Path combination Coverage Consistency (consistency)

~ Path 1 co * EM * ST * CT 0.1111 1.0000

~ Path 2 co * EM * BE * ST 0.1111 1.0000

~ Path 3 co * em * BE * CT 0.1111 1.0000

~ Path 4 CO * em * be * ST 0.1111 1.0000

~ Path 5 CO * be * ST * ct 0.1111 1.0000

~ Path 6 CO * EM * be * st * CT 0.0556 1.0000

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dimension, behavioral dimension and normative dimension is generated, the positive role of

policy implementation environment cannot be played. In other words, for grassroots organiza-

tions in the initial stage of digitization, the construction of cognitive environment is a basis

point, and other environments can better exert their positive effects only based on the cogni-

tive environment dimension, because the subject of policy implementation is people, and only

they can truly know and understand why grassroots digitization is necessary, what grassroots

digitization can bring to grassroots, and how grassroots digitization can be achieved. In the

process of digital transformation, they can overcome various problems in the transformation

period and ensure that the digital policy of the grassroots can really be implemented. The

interview cases corresponding to this path are NE and NV, namely the interview group "05

Meng **+11 Song **" and the interviewee "25 Zhao **". Their main views are shown in

Table 16. From their views, it can be seen that they hold a pessimistic attitude towards digitiza-

tion at the grassroots level, believing that digitization at the grassroots level is more formalistic

and not suitable for the actual situation at the grassroots level at all. In particular, they note

that it is difficult for the township and below to have the conditions to realize digitization. If

the policy implementers carry out digital reform in such a cognitive environment, it can be

expected that the governance effect will certainly be poor.

~ Path 3: (~ cognitive dimension)* (~ emotional dimension)* (behavioral dimension)*

(control dimension) (i.e. co * em * BE * CT)

Table 15. The cases and main views corresponding to Path 1.

Interview

Cases

Interviewee Main point

NE 05 Meng **+11

Song **

Digitalization is more about tasks, use for use’s sake, inadequate applicability

of digital products, the existence of digital formalism, and the notion that

digital governance has become digital pressure, and the contradiction between

the openness of digital governance, the complexity of grassroots work, and the

improvement of grassroots service quality is prominent. The digital scene is

not yet suitable for the grassroots scene, and the grassroots tend to execute and

have no motivation to take the initiative.

NF 06 King *+12 Lin

The residue of digital governance is conducive to both supervision and

protection of cadres. Digitalization is imperative, there are obstacles in

technology and organizational structure, superiors have supervision and

inspection of digital platforms, the tax system has realized digital personnel,

and the future experience governance will reflect governance effectiveness.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0301667.t015

Table 16. Cases and main views corresponding to Path 2.

Interview

Cases

Interviewee Main point

NE 05 Meng **+11

Song **

Digitalization is more about tasks, use for use’s sake, inadequate applicability

of digital products, the existence of digital formalism, and the notion that

digital governance has become digital pressure, and the contradiction between

the openness of digital governance, the complexity of grassroots work, and the

improvement of grassroots service quality is prominent. The digital scene is

not yet suitable for the grassroots scene, and the grassroots tend to execute and

have no motivation to take the initiative.

NV 25 Zhao ** The grassroots digital fragmentation phenomenon is serious, digital

coordination and integration is more difficult, grassroots digitalization

urgently needs to strengthen the top-level design and high-level overall

coordination and management, the township and below digital governance is

difficult, there is no digital governance of human and financial conditions, and

digital security and security, digital governance professionals, and the

debugging of existing personnel are all important issues of grassroots

digitalization.

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~ Path 3 indicates that the grassroots level only provides a good behavioral environment

and control environment; without generating a good cognitive environment and emotional

environment, it is impossible to create a policy implementation environment that has a posi-

tive stimulating effect on the policy implementation subjects. In other words, although the

grassroots has carried out digital reform, has formed a certain behavioral environment of digi-

tal policy implementation, and has carried out certain control activities such as internal assess-

ment on it, the policy implementers have poor knowledge and understanding of the

digitization of the grassroots, and have not developed a positive attitude toward the existing

digital governance. The soft environment for policy implementation of grassroots digital con-

struction is thus still not conducive to the implementation of relevant policies. The interview

cases corresponding to this path are NK and NL, that is, the interviewees "14 Zhang **" and

"15 Zang **". Their main views are shown in Table 17. From their views, it can be seen that the

grassroots units of the two interviewees have carried out a certain degree of digital exploration,

resulting in a certain behavioral environment. Moreover, supervision and assessment were

conducted with the help of digital means to generate a certain control dimension, but their

cognitive and emotional evaluation of their past practice is not high. If other policy implemen-

tation subjects also share the same cognitive and emotional dimension, it is difficult to

improve the overall digital efficiency of the grassroots unit. This path shows that, on the one

hand, the cognitive environment and emotional environment, as the soft environment of pol-

icy implementation environment in grassroots digital construction, will change under the

influence of the behavioral environment and control environment, and a bad cognitive envi-

ronment and emotional environment will hinder the long-term digitization process of grass-

roots units. For the grassroots organizations that have created the digital policy and behavior

environment and peacekeeping control environment, it is especially necessary to strengthen

the construction of a standardized environment by improving the system and regulations, as

well as to pay attention to the cultivation and guidance of the cognitive environment and emo-

tional environment of the policy implementation subjects.

~ Path 4: (cognitive dimension)* (~ emotional dimension)* (~ behavioral dimension)*

(normative dimension) (i.e. CO * em * be * ST)

~ Path 4 indicates that some grassroots have carried out some digital exploration under the

combination of certain cognitive environments and normative environments, but there is no

good emotional environment or behavioral environment, and the environmental effect of pol-

icy implementation of grassroots digital construction has not played a positive role in helping.

In other words, although the policy implementers have a clear cognition that digitization at

the grassroots level is imperative, if their sense of experience in digitization is poor, and there

are obvious problems of digital formalism and digital suspension in the behavioral

Table 17. Cases and main views corresponding to Path 3.

Interview

Cases

Interviewee Main point

NK 14 sheets ** Digital duplication exists in large numbers, the coordination of digital products is not

enough, digital personnel has not played its due role, and grassroots personnel have

not experienced digital effectiveness.

NL 15 Zang ** With the combination of online and offline supervision, the degree of digital

supervision is less than 50%. It is recommended to promote progress in and the level

of digital supervision; due to the lack of upper law, the speed of government reform

cannot keep up with the speed of company change, and as well as digital abuse digital

duplication, digital formalism exists to a high degree, and can it be embedded into a

network management through the way of digital business embedding, repeated

digital assessment.

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environment, the policy incentive role of the overall policy implementation environment will

be seriously restricted. The interview cases corresponding to this path are NP and Na, that is,

interviewees "19 Li *" and interviewees "30 Liu **". Their main views are shown in Table 18.

From their views, it can be seen that they do not have a good digital experience of their grass-

roots units, and there are a large number of digital floating and digital formalism problems in

the policy implementation environment where they live. All these have restricted the process

of digital construction of their grassroots units. This path indicates that in the cognitive and

normative environment, grassroots organizations should pay attention to the cultivation of a

good sense of experience for policy implementation subjects and the optimization of their

behavioral environment and strengthen the governance of digital alienation phenomena such

as digital formalism and digital suspension.

~ Path 5: (cognitive dimension) *(~ behavioral dimension) *(normative dimension) *(~

control dimension) (CO * be * ST * ct)

~ Path 5 indicates that in the grassroots digitization construction, even if certain benign

cognitive and normative dimensions are generated, but no positive behavioral and control

dimensions are formed, such a policy implementation environment cannot have a positive

intervention effect on grassroots digitization. The interview cases corresponding to this path

are Na and Nd, that is, interviewees "19 Li *" and interviewees "30 Liu **". Their main views

are shown in Table 19. From their views, it can be seen that some grassroots organizations

with better cognitive and normative environments are subject to the complexity, uncertainty,

and roughness of the grassroots. It is difficult to give full play to the advantages of digital stan-

dardization, standardization, and fine governance, which means that the grassroots digital

behavior environment is full of digital formalism, digital suspension, digital fragmentation and

other phenomena. Despite the construction of digital control environment by digital means,

there is a phenomenon of digital control fraud, which seriously restricts the positive role of the

policy implementation environment in the digital process. This path indicates that for the

grassroots with the above environmental characteristics, efforts should be made to remediate

the behavioral environment and control environment in their digital construction, especially

the problems of digital formalism and digital control fraud.

~ Path 6: (cognitive dimension)* (emotional dimension)* (~ behavioral dimension)* (nor-

mative dimension)* (control dimension) (CO * EM * be * st * CT)

Table 18. Cases and main views corresponding to Path 4.

Interview

Cases

Interviewee Main point

NP 19 Lee * The low level of digitization in townships, lack of attention from leaders, and

insufficient manpower are the main limiting factors; the village community

management team has a serious aging population and it does not have the quality and

level of digital governance, the sustainability of digital governance policies is poor,

and the phenomenon of task-based governance exists.

Na 30 Liu ** Digital personnel exist to make up numbers in order to determine a good cadre line;

how can digital governance overcome digital formalism? The root cause is the

contradiction between the standardization, standardization, and refinement of digital

governance and the complexity, uncertainty, and roughness of grassroots

governance, which leads to the problems of digital floating and digital formalism in

the process of digitization at the grassroots level. There is still a long way to go to

overcome digital floating and digital formalism. In recent years, the digital

integration and coordination of the tax system have been greatly improved, but

because of the professionalism and complexity of the tax itself, it is more difficult to

use the service object. Therefore, the future needs the two-way interaction and efforts

of the tax bureau and taxpayers to promote the improvement of the efficiency of tax

governance at the grassroots level.

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~ Path 6 indicates that a good policy behavior environment has not been generated in the

grassroots digital construction. Even if the other four kinds of environments are generated, the

positive supporting role of the policy implementation environment cannot be well played.

Therefore, no matter how good the policy is, it should be attributed to implementation, and

the policy without implementation will become a castle in the sky. The interview case corre-

sponding to the path is NN, that is, the interviewer "37 Li **". She said in the interview: "The

high level of digitalization of the public security department, so that people over 70 years old to

adapt to the digitalization is difficult, data barriers exist, regional gap is large limit data inter-

connection, data security and personal privacy protection affect data integration." This path

shows that in the grassroots units with early digitization and a relatively high digitization level,

digital barriers have not been broken through, which is the main constraint factor for the

implementation of the digital policy of the grassroots organization. In the future governance,

digital coordination and integration should be paid attention to.

5. Conclusion and prospects

5.1 Conclusion

This study mainly consists of two parts: First, using NVivo12plus software and rooted theory

for reference, the responses from interviews with 40 grassroots civil servants is analyzed via

rooted coding. Then, based on the clear set qualitative comparative analysis method and

rooted coding using the software Tosmana, a comparative analysis of the effect of the policy

implementation environment is carried out for grassroots digital construction in China.

The research results of rooted coding show that:

1. The cognitive dimension is the logical starting point for the generation of the policy imple-

mentation environment in China’s grassroots digital construction. Under the dual influ-

ence of self-cognition and external cognition, the cognitive environment plays a leading

role in the generation of policy implementation environment in grassroots digital construc-

tion. The cognitive environment dimension consists of internal cognition and external

cognition.

2. The emotional dimension is the comprehensive embodiment of the subject’s inner attitude

towards external things. It is composed of a variety of feelings. It is a derivative of cognition.

It constitutes the emotional link generated by the policy implementation environment in

Table 19. Cases and main views corresponding to Path 5.