Professor Zhang Qiong's co-authored paper is published online in the American Economic Review.

Professor Zhang Qiong, from the School of Public Administration and Policy, Renmin University of China (RUC), has co-authored a paper, "Subjective Performance Evaluation, Influence Activities, and Bureaucratic Work Behavior: Evidence from China", that was published online in the American Economic Review (AER), one of the world's top economics journals.

The paper's other co-authors were Alain de Janvry and Elisabeth Sadoulet, professors from the University of California, Berkeley; He Guojun, professor at the University of Hong Kong; and Wang Shaoda, an assistant professor at the University of Chicago.

The study found that due to the lack of consistent objective performance indicators, subjective performance evaluation (SPE) is widely used in China and elsewhere. While this can reduce information asymmetry and improve principal-agent contracts, it also encourages "influence activities," where subordinates focus on pleasing evaluators rather than improving actual performance.

Influence activities may include completing evaluator-assigned tasks, joining their projects or improving skills they value; some behaviors, like flattery or unrelated favors, have little real effect. Empirical evidence on such behaviors has been scarce due to observation difficulties.

Conducting field experiments in over 800 townships, the study compared two mechanisms: Pre-determined Evaluator and Random Evaluator. Its results show that influence activities are common when evaluators are known, but when the evaluator´s identity is uncertain, subordinates work harder overall, improving performance across all supervisors.

The research, funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China and led by Professor Zhang Qiong, received extensive scholarly and local government support.

Introduction on Zhang Qiong: 

Zhang is a professor and doctoral supervisor at RUC's School of Public Administration and Policy, with research focusing on development economics, public economics and experimental economics, particularly policy design and impact evaluation in social security and economic growth. Her work has been published in top journals including AER, Population Studies and Economic Research Journal. Her research received the 17th Sun Yefang Economic Science Award in 2016.

Zhang Qiong