How does government attention matter in waste classification governance? – evidence from 31 provinces in China

Purpose Waste classification plays an important role in reducing pollution, promoting waste recycling and resource utilization. This paper aims to explore the multiple reasons that affect the performance of waste classification governance. Design/methodology/approach Content analysis of the existing waste classification policies is conducted using the Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) model. Based on this analysis, influencing factors are identified through the technology-organization-environment (TOE) research framework. The condition configurations and action paths that cause differences in governance performance are derived using the fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis method (fsQCA). Findings The results show that there are spatial and temporal disparities in waste classification policies among different provinces/cities. In most situations, the implementation effect of policy combinations is better than that of a single type of policy, with mandatory policies playing a key role. Additionally, a single influencing factor cannot constitute the bottleneck of high governance performance. Policy topics coordinate with environmental and technical factors to influence governance performance. Finally, in light of China's actual governance situation, several targeted implications are proposed for the practical optimization of local government waste classification governance. Originality/value This paper presents a novel approach by integrating multiple heterogeneous data sources from both online and offline channels, adopting a public-government perspective and applying the fsQCA method to investigate the combined effects of technical, organizational and environmental factors on waste classification governance performance across 31 provinces and cities in China.