The power of relative performance information in competing communications
通过三项中国受访者的调查实验，发现提供中国优于其他国家的信息线索能提升公民对政府绩效的评价，且竞争性信息无法抵消这一正面效应。
The public administration literature has long recognized the importance of reference points in interpreting performance information. However, little is known about whether invoking reference points can change citizens’ perceptions of performance in competitive information environments. Across three survey experiments with Chinese respondents, we showed that providing informational cues about China outperforming other countries improve citizens’ ratings of government performance. Moreover, competing information does not balance the positive effects. Findings from an independent experiment refute the likelihood that the treatment effect is an artefact of demand characteristics, thus strengthening the internal validity of our findings.