Citizens’ motivations to coproduce: a Q methodological study on the City Governance Committee in Nanjing, China

This article applies Q methodology to examine citizens’ motivations to engage in Chinese city governance, more specifically to participate in the City Governance Committee in Nanjing. We identify three orientations underlying citizens’ motivations to engage in coproduction: the optimistic believer, the active expresser, and the commissioned influencer. Our data show that expressive values, self-efficacy, and normative values are important reasons underlying Chinese citizens’ engagement in coproduction. The orientations that we have found clearly differ from motivations that are reported in research conducted in a Western context. Our analysis suggests that governors should improve citizens’ self-efficacy for coproduction.