Reputation signals, individual characteristics and citizens’ coproduction willingness

This study investigates how governmental reputation signals – performative, moral, procedural, and technical – influence citizens’ coproduction willingness, moderated by self-efficacy, household size, time availability, and age. A survey experiment with 3,745 respondents across 149 Chinese cities finds that performative, procedural, and technical signals generally increase willingness, while moral signals show no overall effect. Signal effects are audience-dependent: performative signals fail for low self-efficacy individuals; procedural signals weaken among high self-efficacy individuals; moral signals increase willingness in small households; technical signals show consistent positive effects across groups. These findings advance coproduction and reputation theory and inform targeted, signal-based citizen engagement strategies.