School of Public Administration, Hangzhou Normal University, No. 2318, Yuhangtang Rd, Yuhang District, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 311121, P.R. China.
Health Policy Plan. 2023 Apr 11;38(4):552-566. doi: 10.1093/heapol/czad007.
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has brought enormous challenges for public health crisis management in China. Crisis responses vary greatly among provinces. Many studies focus on the role of the central government in crisis management. However, how regional governments respond to such pandemic crises is underexplored. The existing literature lacks extensive comparative studies explaining why different regions respond differently to the crisis and how different regional institutional environments affect crisis management. By proposing an analytical framework based on governance capacity and legitimacy theory, this article seeks to address these questions. This study mainly focuses on provincial governments because they play a crucial role in coordinating various organizations and different levels of government in response to the crisis. By comparing the different COVID-19 responses of Hubei and Zhejiang provinces, this study finds that different regional institutional environments based on the triangular linkage of government, business and society influence regional crisis management by shaping different governance capacities (coordination, analytical, regulation and delivery capacity) and legitimacy (input, throughput and output legitimacy). Regional governments with strong governance capacity can promote crisis management through cross-organizational collaboration, scientific analysis and timely decision-making and effective policy implementation. Promoting citizen participation and information disclosure in the policy process and enhancing citizens' support can improve governance legitimacy, thereby facilitating crisis management. Governance capacity and legitimacy also affect each other. These findings contribute to the literature on public health crisis management. They also shed light on how regional governments in China and other countries with regional variation can effectively tackle public health crises under different institutional environments.
新型冠状病毒肺炎（COVID-19）疫情给中国公共卫生危机管理带来了巨大挑战。各省的危机应对措施差异很大。许多研究都集中在中央政府在危机管理中的作用上。然而，区域政府如何应对此类大流行病危机还没有得到充分的探索。现有文献缺乏广泛的比较研究，无法解释为什么不同地区对危机的反应不同，以及不同的区域制度环境如何影响危机管理。本文通过提出一个基于治理能力和合法性理论的分析框架，旨在解决这些问题。本文主要关注省级政府，因为它们在协调应对危机的各种组织和各级政府方面发挥着关键作用。通过比较湖北和浙江两省的不同 COVID-19 应对措施，本研究发现，基于政府、企业和社会三角联系的不同区域制度环境通过塑造不同的治理能力（协调、分析、监管和交付能力）和合法性（输入、流程和输出合法性）来影响区域危机管理。治理能力强的地区政府可以通过跨组织合作、科学分析、及时决策和有效政策实施来促进危机管理。在政策过程中促进公民参与和信息披露，并增强公民的支持，可以提高治理合法性，从而有助于危机管理。治理能力和合法性也相互影响。这些发现有助于公共卫生危机管理的文献研究。它们还为中国和其他存在区域差异的国家的区域政府如何在不同的制度环境下有效应对公共卫生危机提供了启示。
