Forged through forces: configurations to digital policy attention in local governments
研究分析了272个中国地级市，发现规范压力、财政能力、经济条件和数字基础设施是形成高数字政策注意力的基础，并识别出能力对齐、压力遵从和同行学习三种组态。
Although governments’ digital policy attention is pivotal for effective digital governance, the mechanisms shaping attention remain insufficiently understood. Drawing on an integrated view of institutional environment, task environment, and resource endowment, we analyse 272 Chinese prefecture-level cities using a hybrid fsQCA – regression method to examine how multiple conditions jointly shape attention to digital transformation. We find that normative pressure, fiscal capacity, economic conditions, and digital infrastructure provide the foundation for high policy attention. Beyond this base, we identify three configurations across these dimensions: capability alignment, where leaders with technocratic backgrounds and digital culture jointly foster endogenous commitment; pressure compliance, where coercive, mimetic, and normative pressures jointly drive policy attention; and peer learning adaptation, where governments enhance attention through horizontal emulation when top-down mandates are weak. Regression analyses show that pressure compliance exerts the strongest influence on digital policy attention. These findings reveal configurational dynamics underlying digital governance.